20 Best Books About Appalachia (2023 Update)

Short-listed for the phi beta kappa ralph waldo emerson book awardin ramp hollow, steven stoll offers a fresh, provocative account of appalachia, and why it matters. he begins with the earliest european settlers, whose desire for vast forests to hunt in was frustrated by absentee owners—including george washington and other founders—who laid claim to the region. even as daniel boone became famous as a backwoods hunter and guide, the economy he represented was already in peril. within just a few decades, appalachian hunters and farmers went from pioneers to pariahs, from heroes to hillbillies, in the national imagination, and the area was locked into an enduring association with poverty and backwardness. stoll traces these developments with empathy and precision, examining crucial episodes such as the whiskey rebellion, the founding of west virginia, and the arrival of timber and coal companies that set off a devastating “scramble for appalachia.” at the center of ramp hollow is stoll’s sensitive portrayal of appalachian homesteads. perched upon ridges and tucked into hollows, they combined small-scale farming and gardening with expansive foraging and hunting, along with distilling and trading, to achieve self-sufficiency and resist the dependence on cash and credit arising elsewhere in the united states. but the industrialization of the mountains shattered the ecological balance that sustained the households. ramp hollow recasts the story of appalachia as a complex struggle between mountaineers and profit-seeking forces from outside the region. drawing powerful connections between appalachia and other agrarian societies around the world, stoll demonstrates the vitality of a peasant way of life that mixes farming with commerce but is not dominated by a market mind-set. his original investigation, ranging widely from history to literature, art, and economics, questions our assumptions about progress and development, and exposes the devastating legacy of dispossession and its repercussions today.

Interweaving social, political, environmental, economic, and popular history, john alexander williams chronicles four and a half centuries of the appalachian past. along the way, he explores appalachia's long-contested boundaries and the numerous, often contradictory images that have shaped perceptions of the region as both the essence of america and a place apart.williams begins his story in the colonial era and describes the half-century of bloody warfare as migrants from europe and their american-born offspring fought and eventually displaced appalachia's native american inhabitants. he depicts the evolution of a backwoods farm-and-forest society, its divided and unhappy fate during the civil war, and the emergence of a new industrial order as railroads, towns, and extractive industries penetrated deeper and deeper into the mountains. finally, he considers appalachia's fate in the twentieth century, when it became the first american region to suffer widespread deindustrialization, and examines the partial renewal created by federal intervention and a small but significant wave of in-migration. throughout the book, a wide range of appalachian voices enlivens the analysis and reminds us of the importance of storytelling in the ways the people of appalachia define themselves and their region.

Scholars who teach, write, or speak on the history and culture of the appalachian region are frequently asked by students, administrators, or colleagues to recommend a relatively short, comprehensive book about appalachia. until now, there has been no interdisciplinary introductory text in appalachian studies. a handbook to appalachia comprises a collection of concise, accessible overviews of the region written by top academics in a variety of fields, all directed at a general audience. accompanied by dozens of inviting photographs, the essays offer information to those becoming acquainted with appalachia for the first time as well as to more experienced observers of the region. the essays are arranged to show how various features of appalachia are related. each essay is followed by a list of suggested readings for further study. a handbook to appalachia provides a clear, concise first step toward understanding the expanding field of appalachian studies, from the history of the area to its sometimes conflicted image, from its music and folklore to its outstanding literature.chapters:historythe peoples of appalachianatural resources and environmenteconomicspolitics of changehealth careeducationfolklifeliteraturereligionvisual artsappalachians outside the region

A haunting exploration of faith, from a preacher convicted of attempted murder to a first-hand account of holiness serpent handling–"one of the best books on american religion from the last 25 years" (chicago tribune) for new york times reporter dennis covington, what began as a journalistic assignment-covering the trial of an alabama pastor convicted of attempting to murder his wife with poisonous snakes-would evolve into a headlong plunge into a bizarre, mysterious, and ultimately irresistible world of unshakable faith: the world of holiness snake handling.set in the heart of appalachia, salvation on sand mountain is covington's unsurpassed and chillingly captivating exploration of the nature, power, and extremity of faith-an exploration that gradually turns inward, until covington finds himself taking up the snakes.

Part i. interrogating. hillbilly elitism / t.r.c. hutton — social capital / jeff mann — once upon a time in "trumpalachia": hillbilly elegy, personal choice, and the blame game / dwight b. billings — stereotypes on the syllabus: exploring hillbilly elegy's use as an instructional text at colleges and universities / elizabeth catte — benham, kentucky, coal miner / wise county, virginia, landscape / theresa burriss — panning for gold: a reflection of life from appalachia / ricardo nazario y colón — will the real hillbilly please stand up? urban appalachian migration and culture seen through the lens of hillbilly elegy / roger guy — what hillbilly elegy reveals about race in twenty-first-century america / lisa r. pruitt — prisons are not innovation / lou murrey — down and out in middletown and jackson: drugs, dependency, and decline in j.d. vance's capitalist realism / travis linnemann and corina medley. responding. keep your "elegy": the appalachia i know is very much alive / ivy brashear — he said/she said / crystal good — the hillbilly miracle and the fall / michael e. maloney — elegies / dana wildsmith — in defense of j.d. vance / kelli hansel haywood — it's crazy around here, i don't know what to do about it, and i'm just a kid / allen johnson — "falling in love," balsam bald, the blue ridge parkway, 1982 / danielle dulken — black hillbillies have no time for elegies / william h. turnerpart ii. nothing familiar / jesse graves — history / jesse graves — tether and plow / jesse graves — on and on: appalachian accent and academic power / meredith mccarroll — olivia's ninth birthday party / rebecca kiger — kentucky, coming and going / kirstin l. squint — resistance, or our most worthy habits / richard hague — notes on a mountain man / jeremy b. jones — these stories sustain me: the wyrd-ness of my appalachia / edward karshner — watch children / luke travis — the mower-1933 / robert morgan — consolidate and salvage / chelsea jack — how appalachian i am / robert gipe — aunt rita along the king coal highway, mingo county, west virginia / roger may — holler / keith s. wilson — loving to fool with things / rachel wise — antebellum cookbook / kelly norman ellis — how to make cornbread, or thoughts on being an appalachian from pennsylvania who calls virginia home but now lives in georgia / jim minick — tonglen for my mother / linda parsons — olivia at the intersection / meg wilson — appalachian apophenia, or the psychogeography of home / jodie childers — canary dirge / dale marie prenatt — poet, priest, and "poor white trash" / elizabeth hadaway

Few places in the united states confound and fascinate americans like appalachia, yet no other area has been so markedly mischaracterized by the mass media. stereotypes of hillbillies and rednecks repeatedly appear in representations of the region, but few, if any, of its many heroes, visionaries, or innovators are ever referenced.make no mistake, they are legion: from anne royall, america's first female muckraker, to sequoyah, a cherokee mountaineer who invented the first syllabary in modern times, and international divas nina simone and bessie smith, as well as writers cormac mccarthy, edward abbey, and nobel laureate pearl s. buck, appalachia has contributed mightily to american culture — and politics. not only did eastern tennessee boast the country's first antislavery newspaper, appalachians also established the first district of washington as a bold counterpoint to british rule.

Since 1972, the foxfire books have preserved and celebrated the culture of southern appalachia for countless readers all around the world. smith collects some of his favorite stories from the archives to illuminate the oral traditions that have been part of the culture of the mountains for centuries. here are instances of mountain speech, proverbs and sayings, legends, folktales, anecdotes, songs, and pranks and jests, along with ghost tales and accounts of folk belief, as well as stories from half a dozen of the region’s finest storytellers. through these examples, smith examines the role storytelling plays in the southern appalachian community, identifying the rich traditions that can be found in the region and exploring how they convey a sense of place—and of identity.

Stepping through time to past and present communities, settled in deep hollows and surrounded by ridges and mountains in tennessee's appalachia, is to confront a different and disappearing realm. travel along hogskin and richland valleys. visit frenches mill and dulaney general store while passing cantilever barns, one-room school buildings and steepled churches. listen as octogenarians robert, charles, glenn and others explain life without electricity. former cades cove residents lois and inez tell stories of living in the great smoky mountains national park before it was a national park. authors fred brown, retired journalist, and harry moore, retired geologist, explore tennessee's appalachian region, recalling its culture, land and people before it vanishes into the abyss of time.

The ridges and valleys of the appalachians once were the frontier of colonial america. today their centerline is the appalachian national scenic trail, a hiking and backpacking beacon to the world. in between, its route became one of many routes to freedom for the enslaved in the south and mid-atlantic states and then a series of mountaintop battlefields. some argue it began here, with john brown's raid on the armory at harpers ferry, the psychological halfway point of the legendary footpath.hiking through history documents battle sites along the trail from east tennessee to the retreat lines from gettysburg, underground railroad sites from harpers ferry north to maine, and a singular trailside network of farms bought postwar by former slaves in central virginia, their ruins still visible. each site is illustrated with period photographs and a suggested hike, complete with four-color map and detailed description.in the four years of the civil war, hundreds died atop denuded ridges along what is now a peaceful, forested path for recreatrion and reflection. the intent of this volume is to provide to hikers a sense of what happened here more than 150 years ago and provoke them to reimagine the scenery and think about their past as americans.foreword by brian b. king.

Born in 1928, mary bremier has a remarkably keen eye, both for the beauty of her natural world and for the telling details of human frailty. the shadows of appalachia has a deft, musical voice that recalls the regional dialect as well as the songs, sayings, and prayers that shaped her depression-era childhood. her gentle irony lays bare the mindset of her hardworking, proud, ignorant, doomed-to-failure, beloved appalachian family. the appalachian culture, the same subject as hillbilly elegy, is expanded upon in the shadows of appalachia with empathy, a rich cast of characters, and some laugh-out-loud humor. the action and setting have similarities to little house on the prairie, although it is more nuanced and at times dark, with adult themes. this is a book about the power of language, and how education offers a route out and away from the limitations of narrow-mindedness. young mary, silenced and shamed by her mother, is also crippled by dyslexia. her unconventional education results in her facile, engaging ability to play with words, and reveals how mary ultimately thrives. after the tragic loss of her husband and young daughter, mary returns to appalachia to resolve her conflict with her painful past, her family's shortcomings, and the death of a way of life.

Born in 1928, mary bremier has a remarkably keen eye, both for the beauty of her natural world and for the telling details of human frailty. the shadows of appalachia has a deft, musical voice that recalls the regional dialect as well as the songs, sayings, and prayers that shaped her depression-era childhood. her gentle irony lays bare the mindset of her hardworking, proud, ignorant, doomed-to-failure, beloved appalachian family. the appalachian culture, the same subject as hillbilly elegy, is expanded upon in the shadows of appalachia with empathy, a rich cast of characters, and some laugh-out-loud humor. the action and setting have similarities to little house on the prairie, although it is more nuanced and at times dark, with adult themes. this is a book about the power of language, and how education offers a route out and away from the limitations of narrow-mindedness. young mary, silenced and shamed by her mother, is also crippled by dyslexia. her unconventional education results in her facile, engaging ability to play with words, and reveals how mary ultimately thrives. after the tragic loss of her husband and young daughter, mary returns to appalachia to resolve her conflict with her painful past, her family's shortcomings, and the death of a way of life.

" richard drake has skillfully woven together the various strands of the appalachian experience into a sweeping whole. touching upon folk traditions, health care, the environment, higher education, the role of blacks and women, and much more, drake offers a compelling social history of a unique american region. the appalachian region, extending from alabama in the south up to the allegheny highlands of pennsylvania, has historically been characterized by its largely rural populations, rich natural resources that have fueled industry in other parts of the country, and the strong and wild, undeveloped land. the rugged geography of the region allowed native american societies, especially the cherokee, to flourish. early white settlers tended to favor a self-sufficient approach to farming, contrary to the land grabbing and plantation building going on elsewhere in the south. the growth of a market economy and competition from other agricultural areas of the country sparked an economic decline of the region’s rural population at least as early as 1830. the civil war and the sometimes hostile legislation of reconstruction made life even more difficult for rural appalachians. recent history of the region is marked by the corporate exploitation of resources. regional oil, gas, and coal had attracted some industry even before the civil war, but the postwar years saw an immense expansion of american industry, nearly all of which relied heavily on appalachian fossil fuels, particularly coal. what was initially a boon to the region eventually brought financial disaster to many mountain people as unsafe working conditions and strip mining ravaged the land and its inhabitants. a history of appalachia also examines pockets of urbanization in appalachia. chemical, textile, and other industries have encouraged the development of urban areas. at the same time, radio, television, and the internet provide residents direct links to cultures from all over the world. the author looks at the process of urbanization as it belies commonly held notions about the region’s rural character.

Although southern appalachia is popularly seen as a purely white enclave, blacks have lived in the region from early times. some hollows and coal camps are in fact almost exclusively black settlements. the selected readings in this new book offer the first comprehensive presentation of the black experience in appalachia.organized topically, the selections deal with the early history of blacks in the region, with studies of the black communities, with relations between blacks and whites, with blacks in coal mining, and with political issues. also included are a section on oral accounts of black experiences and an analysis of black appalachian demography. the contributors range from carter woodson and w. e. b. du bois to more recent scholars such as theda perdue and david a. corbin. an introduction by the editors provides an overall context for the selections. blacks in appalachia focuses needed attention on a neglected area of appalachian studies. it will be a valuable resource for students of appalachia and of black history.

When geraldine "gerry" largay (at trail name, inchworm) first went missing on the appalachian trail in remote western maine in 2013, the people of maine were wrought with concern. when she was not found, the family, the wardens, and the navy personnel who searched for her were devastated. the maine warden service continued to follow leads for more than a year. they never completely gave up the search. two years after her disappearance, her bones and scattered possessions were found by chance by two surveyors. she was on the u.s. navy's sere (survival, evasion, resistance, and escape) school land, about 2,100 feet from the appalachian trail. this book tells the story of events preceding geraldine largay's vanishing in july 2013, while hiking the appalachian trail in maine, what caused her to go astray, and the massive search and rescue operation that followed. her disappearance sparked the largest lost-person search in maine history, which culminated in her being presumed dead. she was never again seen alive. the author was one of the hundreds of volunteers who searched for her. gerry's story is one of heartbreak, most assuredly, but is also one of perseverance, determination, and faith. for her family and the searchers, especially the maine warden service, it is also a story of grave sorrow. marrying the joys and hardship of life in the outdoors, as well as exploring the search & rescue community, when you find my body examines dying with grace and dignity. there are lessons in the story, both large and small. lessons that may well save lives in the future.

John o'brien's deeply evocative book re- veals a place and a way of life–and the lives of an estranged father and son whose differences rest, ironically, in their own powerful bonds to appalachia. john o'brien was born in philadelphia, his father having left his beloved home in the west virginia mountains after an impoverished childhood made all the more painful by family tragedy. struggling to escape a father defeated by disappointment, displacement, and poverty, john too left home. when john decided to settle near his father's birthplace in west virginia, he hoped to comprehend the elder o'brien's attachment to the land, as well as the disabling fatalism he had carried north. what he discovered is hardly the mythic appalachia most americans imagine, but a world of extravagant beauty–lush with green mountains, deep forests, ice-cold trout streams, and small hill farms. they tend to look back more than most americans do, defining themselves by how they fit into an extended family that includes their ancestors. it is a world the author would finally love and call his own. in this clear-eyed, beautifully rendered telling of his story and his father's, john o'brien gives us, as well, the history and true heart of appalachia.

To many antebellum americans, appalachia was a frightening wilderness of lawlessness, peril, robbers, and hidden dangers. the extensive media coverage of horse stealing and scalping raids profiled the region's residents as intrinsically violent. after the civil war, this characterization continued to permeate perceptions of the area and news of the conflict between the hatfields and the mccoys, as well as the bloodshed associated with the coal labor strikes, cemented appalachia's violent reputation. blood in the hills: a history of violence in appalachia provides an in-depth historical analysis of hostility in the region from the late eighteenth to the early twentieth century. stewart discusses aspects of the appalachian violence culture, examining skirmishes with the native population, conflicts resulting from the region's rapid modernization, and violence as a function of social control. the contributors also address geographical isolation and ethnicity, kinship, gender, class, and race with the purpose of shedding light on an often-stereotyped regional past. blood in the hills does not attempt to apologize for the region but uses detailed research and analysis to explain it, delving into the social and political factors that have defined appalachia throughout its violent history.

In 1966 in rabun county, georgia, a group of high school english students created thefoxfire magazine, a literary journal that celebrated appalachian stories, peoples, and culture. the publication was filled with poetry and prose from local students and authors and featured interviews with community members. these oral histories quickly became the focal point of the magazine and, eventually, the material that generated the multivolume foxfire book series. now, pulled from the vast foxfire archive comes the first volume in the series focused specifically on the lives of appalachian women. these remarkable narratives illuminate a diverse regional culture held together by the threads that are woven between women and place, and through generations. told sometimes with humor, sometimes with sadness, but always with a gripping rawness and honesty, the stories recount women's lived experiences from the 1960s to the present. the interviews cover work, family, and community, illuminating cherokee, black, and white women's experiences; changes in appalachian culture; and the importance of relationships in daily life. reading each interview in this book is almost like joining these women on their porches and in their homes as they take us on a journey through their lives. taken together, the stories speak against regional stereotypes and offer instead a sampling of the many expressions of these women's strength.

In this book, emily hilliard draws from her work as state folklorist to explore contemporary folklife in west virginia. in doing so, she challenges the common perception of both folklore and appalachian culture as static, antiquated forms, offering instead the concept of "visionary folklore" as a future-focused, materialist, and collaborative approach to cultural work. with chapters on the expressive culture of the west virginia teachers' strike, the cultural significance of the west virginia hot dog, the tradition of independent pro wrestling in appalachia, the practice of nonprofessional women songwriters, the collective counternarrative of a multiracial coal camp community, the invisible landscape of writer breece d'j pancake's hometown, the foodways of an appalachian swiss community, the postapocalyptic vision presented in the video game fallout 76, and more, the book centers the collective nature of folklife and examines the role of the public folklorist in collaborative engagements with communities and culture.

"lingering questions and stereotypes continue to surround appalachia; even the exact location and size of the region are still debated. it is not surprising, then, that the very concept of appalachian culture is also contentious. some see the individuals who reside there as noble northern-european descendants whose lifestyle is reminiscent of the colonial era. there are others who view the region as a land of backward mountain people who are uneducated and hostile. one of the best methods to understand the area is through literature. although conflict is still readily apparent, stories, memoirs, and poetry from appalachian authors illuminate the lifestyles, history, and contradictions that define appalachia. in writing appalachia, editors katherine ledford and theresa lloyd have compiled a comprehensive collection of fictional and non-fictional pieces that represent the region and discuss topics such as native american residents, slavery and the civil war, settlement schools, appalachian folklore and modernism in the region. featuring writers who were born in the region, adopted the region, or wrote about a significant experience in the region, the anthology includes pieces by barbara kingsolver, silas house, frank x walker, james still, and tom wolfe among others. the people living in this region epitomize the deep connection between humans and nature as is illustrated in the sections on southern mountaineers and folklore. however, the relationship between people and the land is being threatened by the increase in mining and mountaintop removal in the region, making the importance of local farming and environmental activism especially salient. through the featured pieces, a picture of appalachia emerges that shows that the many conflicts within the region subsist because they are all true- appalachia is defined by its contradictions. this is the first comprehensive anthology of appalachian literature to include racial minorities, women, and the lesbian/gay/bisexual (transgendered community. in addition, ledford and lloyd analyze the more modern works that reveal the vast changes the region has undergone"–

"my family lived as far back in the hollers as it was possible to go in bell county, kentucky. dad worked in the timber woods and at a sawmill, when there was employment to be found. just about everything was made by hand. sidney saylor farr grew up in the mountains of southeastern kentucky, the eldest of ten children.her devotion to her family led her to accept heavy responsibilities from a very young age: at three, she remembers being put in charge of her baby sister while her parents worked in the corn field. at the age of twelve, farr was forced to leave school to care for her ailing mother and younger siblings. although she did not often have time to pursue her own goals, life in the mountains nourished and shaped farr and the writer she would become. her great-grandmother was a master storyteller, and stories passed down from generation to generation helped define her family history and fueled her imagination. her aunt dellie, a voracious reader, received discarded books from the pineville library, and as she shared these volumes with young sidney, she opened the world to her eager niece.farr's intense determination compelled her to find her own path and gave her the strength to become one of the most influential figures in appalachian letters, nurturing other young writers who wanted to document the region's particular way of life. although living in appalachia was difficult — many people of farr's generation left the mountains for good — she persisted through countless challenges, including poverty, discrimination, and personal loss. farr managed to thrive despite these adversities, educating herself, raising two sons, and becoming a voice for her family, community, and culture.in my appalachia, farr shares the stories of her struggles and triumphs to create a vivid picture of a culture as enduring as the mountains. composed of a rich mix of folklore, family history, and spiritual and intellectual exploration, farr's deft and gentle storytelling reveals the beauty of life in appalachia.