Kanawha County Images

When first published, this was the first widely published book about West Virginia's most populous county since the early 1900s. Authors Stan Cohen and Richard Andre spent years researching stories of old, and painstakingly looking through archives and attics for never-before-seen photos. The result changed how we view and look back on Charleston-presenting not only a history but also a vivid picture of life in a vibrant city and county. The book begins with prehistoric people who left behind mysterious burial mounds throughout the Kanawha Valley. It covers the growing settlement, and traces the region's growth from the salt capital of the United States to the chemical capital of the world.The book is ultimately a collective snapshot of Kanawha County history, particularly the four-decade period of boundless growth between 1880 and 1920, when the population ballooned from 4,000 to 40,000. Kanawha County Images still hits all the right notes: from nostalgia, to long-disappeared landmarks, to tales never told before. This is a must-read if you want to know more about Kanawha County or remember the Charleston and nearby towns of yesteryear.

Fourteen years after publishing the classic Kanawha County Images: A Bicentennial History: 1788-1988, Richard Andre and Stan Cohen released their long-awaited sequel. After the original book came out, the authors were flooded with photos they-and most readers-had never seen before. As a result, just like volume 1 & 2, this follow-up is a treasure trove of never-before-seen images from Kanawha County, West Virginia. Volumes 3 & 4 include more rare street scenes and tells the tales of factories, stores, hotels, churches, schools, familiar faces, tragedies, and celebrations, mostly from the early to mid-1900s. The authors dedicate sections to the best of these newly found photos, including the once-sprawling Dickinson salt works at Malden and Ward Engineering, a pioneering boat-building operation on Charleston's South Side. They also feature photos of the Victorian state capitol that burned in 1921, the Capitol Annex (fondly remembered by many as the old Charleston Public Library), and construction of the current capitol. But the scene stealer in this collection is the only known photo of West Virginia's second state capitol, and Charleston's first. It served only five years as the statehouse (1870-75), and, until this book came out, no photos of it were known to exist. The authors also located a rare construction photo of that building's successor, the Victorian capitol. Kanawha County Images: Volume 3 & 4 also traces Kanawha County's rail and aviation histories, including the construction of Kanawha (now Yeager) Airport. There also are some great images of early cars and trucks. Through photos and newspaper clippings, you can feel what it was like to live in Charleston during World War II, including superb images of the South Charleston Ordnance Plant in action and Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt's trip to the Kanawha Valley to inspect it. You won't be able to take your eyes off some pages, such as the expansive aerial photos of Charleston from 1918 and 1952. These pre-Google Earth-like views of Charleston let you scan from building to building and, If you've got a good eye, you might just find the house where you grew up or the school or church you once attended. Volume 3 & 4 are a perfect coffee table companion to Volumes 1 & 2. If you love West Virginia or Kanawha County history, this book is a must for you.

A comprehensive history of navigation on the Great Kanawha River, detailing the industrial archaeology of this waterway from the early 19th century, and offering a detailed case study of a major 19th- and early 20th-century civil engineering project that significantly advanced the nation's industrial development.

In Reading Appalachia from Left to Right, Carol Mason examines the legacies of a pivotal 1974 curriculum dispute in West Virginia that heralded the rightward shift in American culture and politics. At a time when black nationalists and white conservatives were both maligned as extremists for opposing education reform, the wife of a fundamentalist preacher who objected to new language-arts textbooks featuring multiracial literature sparked the yearlong conflict. It was the most violent textbook battle in America, inspiring mass marches, rallies by white supremacists, boycotts by parents, and strikes by coal miners. Schools were closed several times due to arson and dynamite while national and international news teams descended on Charleston.A native of Kanawha County, Mason infuses local insight into this study of historically left-leaning protesters ushering in cultural conservatism. Exploring how reports of the conflict as a hillbilly feud affected all involved, she draws on substantial archival research and interviews with Klansmen, evangelicals, miners, bombers, and businessmen, a who, like herself, were residents of Kanawha County during the dispute. Mason investigates vulgar accusations of racism that precluded a richer understanding of how ethnicity, race, class, and gender blended together as white protesters set out to protect "our children's souls."In the process, she demonstrates how the significance of the controversy goes well beyond resistance to social change on the part of Christian fundamentalists or a cultural clash between elite educators and working-class citizens. The alliances, tactics, and political discourses that emerged in the Kanawha Valley in 1974 crossed traditional lines, inspiring innovations in neo-Nazi organizing, propelling Christian conservatism into the limelight, and providing models for women of the New Right.