Flying Jenny

“[A] superb new historical novel . . . about the heady late 1920s, when the public went crazy every day over barnstorming pilots and their heroic stunts.”—Publishers Daily Reviews People are doing all sorts of screwy things in 1929. It is a time of hope, boundless optimism, and prosperity. “Blue Skies” is the song on everyone’s lips. The tabloids are full of flagpole sitters, flappers, and marathon dancers. Ever since Charles Lindbergh flew across the Atlantic solo, the entire world has gone nuts over flying. But everyone agrees that the stunt pilots take the cake. Jenny Flynn defies the odds and conventions in her pursuit of the sky. She attracts the attention of Laura Bailey, a brash reporter crashing through her own glass ceiling at a New York City newspaper. Laura chases the pilot’s story—and the truth about her own mysterious father—on a barnstorming escapade from Manhattan to the Midwest. Flying Jenny offers a vivid portrait of an earlier time when airplanes drew swarming crowds entranced by the pioneers—male and female—of flight. Finalist for the Oklahoma Book Awards, Fiction “[A] romp through the early days of women’s aviation history . . . Debutante pilot Jenny Flynn and cub reporter Laura Bailey carry the spunk of Thelma & Louise to new heights as they fight for space in the cockpit and the city room.”—Janet Groth, author of The Receptionist: An Education at The New Yorker “Tuohy uses both Jenny and Laura to explore gender roles in the late 1920s and how two young women push their own boundaries as well as the society around them.”—Historical Novels Review

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.

I wrote this book called “Escape from Mississippi”: The Diary of a Boy Growing up in the South in the 40s and 50s.’I’m going to take you to place’s tell you about people, that’s unique to me. . I will start in Columbus; go to Papa’s house and beyond. Everybody shopped in Columbus the biggest little town that was the closest to most of the country people. The hitch lot’s, where everybody parked their horses, Mules and wagons, for a fee. The proprietors in the little town of Columbus Jews owed. Most of it . There were a couple of black owed store’s. I will tell about the all White girls collage. Tell you about the County Fair. I will take you from up town through Seventh Avenue. The most popular street the most popular places. I will tell you about the schools in Columbus. Talk about the night life. The back door users, making love, through the floor. We’ll go to Steen’s, a little cross Road Town this was my Town. I’ll tell you about the Sand Road a hood within itself. A juke joint, people came from all over to hang out all night. Tell you about the churches the schools. Next to papas, two hundred and eighty five, acres of land. I’ll tell you about my best friend I grew up with. Tell you of the coal tin top house I was born in, only kerosene lamps, one working fireplace, to keep fourteen of us warm in winter. Tell you all about my sisters and brothers, about the hard work, Papa’s womanizing words papa and mama said when they were mad, slang words we used for a laugh. Tell you of the Uncles and Aunt’s Cousins. Tell you about friends of the family, people that worked for papa. Tell about papa’s saw mill. Tell you of Cattle and cops we raised. Tell you about the con men, the con preachers, the fireside ghost stories, the insane people stories. The baby with the man’s head, the poor, uneducated happy people, the biggest party in the country, the good year’s bad years… the crawling deadly creatures, the packs of wild dogs that roomed around in the fall… Moonshine makers, Moonshine runners.. I’ll take you to town Caledonia. I’ll tell you about the people the Schools Ball game’s Bar-b-q.

Folk toys are made with available materials by amateurs in the tradition of the area's culture. Folk games are the traditional games passed along in the playground. This delightful illustrated volume combines how-to descriptions and personal reminiscences contributed by people across the state of Texas. Paper edition (unseen), $14.95. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

More than two dozen traditional and original models of the wind-powered toys known as whirligigs appear in this how-to manual. Easy-to-follow instructions, detailed illustrations.

The Foxfire Americana Library takes you back to the good ol’ days with a collection of simple, classic toys that can be made at home. Complete with illustrated step-by-step instructions, “Blowguns and Bouncing Pigs” includes advice on how to make: Ball and Cups Blowguns Bouncing Pigs Bows and Arrows Bubble Blowers Bull Grinders Buttons on a String Climbing Bears Corn Guns Cornstalk Animals Cornstalk Fiddle Apple-head Dolls Cucumber Dolls Fluttermills Fly Guns Hoops Jumping Jacks Kicking Mules Limberjacks Pop Guns Puzzles Rattletraps Rolling Clowns Sling Shots Smoke Grinders Squirt Guns Stick Horses Stilts Grapevine Swings Rope Swings Tops or Dancers Whimmy Diddles or Jeep Sticks Hollow Whistles Split Whistles Whittled Animals Foxfire has brought the philosophy of simple living to hundreds of thousands of readers, teaching creative self-sufficiency and preserving the stories, crafts, and customs of Appalachia. Inspiring and practical, this classic series has become an American institution. In July 2016, Vintage Shorts celebrates Foxfire's 50th Anniversary.

First published in 1972, The Foxfire Book was a surprise bestseller that brought Appalachia's philosophy of simple living to hundreds of thousands of readers. Whether you wanted to hunt game, bake the old-fashioned way, or learn the art of successful moonshining, The Foxfire Museum and Heritage Center had a contact who could teach you how with clear, step-by-step instructions. Volume six of the Foxfire series covers shoemaking, crafting toys and games, carving gourd banjos, song bows and wooden locks, creating a water-powered sawmill, and other fascinating topics.

The Flying Prostitute was one of many pseudonyms given the B-26 Martin Marauder bomber in WWII by those who flew them. This plane cremated so many crewmen that newscasters were afraid to write or talk about it for fear this might cause a morale problem with our men who were told to fly them. The author recites his cadet life at Randolph Field, San Antonio, Texas, THE WEST POINT OF THE AIR, where he became the top-ranking cadet officer. He then earned his wings at Ellington Field, Texas and, along with others of his class, was assigned to be an Instructor Pilot of this aircraft for seventeen months. So many men were being killed in horrible crashes that each wore their Air Force Wings as bracelets on their wrists so their bodies could be identified, “just in case.” Combat in the skies over Europe followed, and so did the crashes. Pilots did not know the mammoth tail could, and had separated from this airplane while in flight. Pilots knew the propellers could runaway and cremate their entire crew in disastrous, fiery crashes. Pilots did not know the manufacturers of parts of this airplane were falsifying reports and Congress knew it. They did know that they could be killed every time they took one up. This dramatic, true story is shocking in its detail and documentation. The refusal to write about this airplane remains an enigma for writers even to this day.