Appalachian Rose

This book is a mostly humorous look at life in traditional rural Appalachia. It is based on true stories either in her lifetime or those handed down in the oral tradition of the culture. It is a collection of short stories, vignettes, and poetry. It is a testament to the tenacity and heart of these hearty people.

The Dictionary of Southern Appalachian English is a revised and expanded edition of the Weatherford Award–winning Dictionary of Smoky Mountain English, published in 2005 and known in Appalachian studies circles as the most comprehensive reference work dedicated to Appalachian vernacular and linguistic practice. Editors Michael B. Montgomery and Jennifer K. N. Heinmiller document the variety of English used in parts of eight states, ranging from West Virginia to Georgia—an expansion of the first edition's geography, which was limited primarily to North Carolina and Tennessee—and include over 10,000 entries drawn from over 2,200 sources. The entries include approximately 35,000 citations to provide the reader with historical context, meaning, and usage. Around 1,600 of those examples are from letters written by Civil War soldiers and their family members, and another 4,000 are taken from regional oral history recordings. Decades in the making, the Dictionary of Southern Appalachian English surpasses the original by thousands of entries. There is no work of this magnitude available that so completely illustrates the rich language of the Smoky Mountains and Southern Appalachia.

In this variation on the Cinderella story, based on the Charles Perrault version but set in the Smoky Mountains, Rose loses her glass slipper at a party given by the rich feller on the other side of the creek.

The images of poverty in Appalachia that John F. Kennedy used in his campaign for the presidency in 1960 shocked and disturbed many Americans. Five years later, President Lyndon Johnson and the U.S. Congress demonstrated their commitment to that neglected and exploited region with the creation of the Appalachian Regional Commission. In this insightful book, Michael Bradshaw explores the ARC's unique federal-state partnership and analyses in detail the contributions of the local development districts. But this work is more than an analysis of a government agency; it is, as Bradshaw notes, "a book about an attempt to change the human geography of a large region of the United States by means of public policy." Bradshaw offers important insights into the ARC's interactions with six administrations throughout its history. The Reagan years were especially challenging: during his eight years in office, Reagan left the ARC out of his budget entirely, but support from the state governors and Congress prevented closing of the Commission and maintained basic funding. The bottom line for an agency such as the ARC is whether it has made any difference in the lives of the people of Appalachia. Many would say their lives have been affected positively by the government funds that have been poured into the region, but many others continue to question the ways in which the ARC was established and operated. This is a book that should be read by any citizen who is interested in how to make government work effectively at all levels.

This informative field guide covers the wildflowers of the entire Appalachian region, which stretches from Quebec to northern Alabama, encompassing the Catskills of New York, the Berkshires of Massachusetts, the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, North Carolina, and Tennessee, and many mountain ranges in between. Using this book, readers will learn to identify this region's wildflowers by shape, color, family, and habitat. Ecologist and botanist Thomas E. Hemmerly encourages us to "read the landscape" in order to learn about plants' habitats, distribution, and use. In his brief, introductory chapters, he describes ecosystems such as mountain forests and wetlands to provide a context for the information on individual plant species that will be valuable to both professional scientists and amateur naturalists. Practical: The 378 color plates, grouped by color for clear reference, appear alongside plant descriptions for ease of identification.Informative: Each entry includes a description of the plant's habitat, abundance, and geographical distribution, along with information about its ethnobotanical, economic, or medicinal uses. An appendix lists and describes the best places in the Appalachians for "botanizing."User-Friendly: Diagrams of leaf and flower shapes are a further aide to plant identification.The Appalachian Region: Alabama, Connecticut, Georgia, Kentucky, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Quebec, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia