The Rural Roots Reader

This is a collection of stories about growing up in rural Kipling, Northern Ontario, Canada in the 50s and 60s. Some of them are true, some have a hint of truth, and some are products of the author's vivid imagination...

Wayne Erbsen's newest book takes a deep look at bluegrass music to uncover its true roots: ballads of early pioneers, Scots-Irish fiddle tunes, black spirituals, plantations melodies, blues, murder ballads, sentimental parlor songs from Tin Pan Alley, North Carolina banjo styles and gospel songs. the book is richly illustrated with over 100 vintage photos and includes lyrics, musical notation, chords, history and playing tips to 94 songs. There are also nearly 80 pages of history and profiles portraying important musicians including the Monroe Brothers, Carter Family, Bradley Kincaid, Riley Puckett, Charlie Poole, Wade & J.E. Mainer, Vernon Dalhart, Carolina Tar Heels, G.B. Grayson and Henry Whitter, Fiddlin' Arthur Smith, Ernest V. Stoneman, Blue Sky Boys, Fiddlin' John Carson, Coon Creek Girls, Earl Scruggs, Eck Robertson, Callahan Brothers, Samantha Bumgarner, Bill Monroe Zeke & Wiley Morris, Jimmie Rodgers and Stringbean. Optional CD by Wayne Erbsen and Laura Boosinger is available containing fourteen songs from the book.

In the late 1970s, grain prices had tanked, farm auction notices filled newspapers, and people had forgotten that food didn't grow in grocery stores. So, on February 5, 1979, thousands of tractors from all parts of the US flooded Washington, DC, in protest. Author Lindsay H. Metcalf, a journalist who grew up on a family farm, shares this rarely told story of grassroots perseverance and economic justice. In 1979, US farmers traveled to Washington, DC to protest unfair prices for their products. Farmers wanted fair prices for their products and demanded action from Congress. After police corralled the tractors on the National Mall, the farmers and their tractors stayed through a snowstorm and dug out the city. Americans were now convinced they needed farmers, but the law took longer. Boldly told and highlighted with stunning archival images, this is the story of the struggle and triumph of the American farmer that still resonates today.

DIVHumans have used the goat as a symbol for thousands of years and have given it a place in myth and legend; in recent times, images of goats are found everywhere from beer labels to heavy metal art. At the same time, the goat also remains a simple farm animal. From ancient myths to pop culture to profiles of domestic breeds, Extraordinary Goats explores the many facets of the goat./divDIV /divDIVGoats are useful for their milk, their fur, and their meat, and they don�t need a lot of acreage to be happy„in fact, they�re known as the poor man�s cow. But that�s not why they�re fascinating. Goats have personality. They can be friendly, angry, pensive, cranky, or curious; they can be your best friend or a thorn in your side. They can drive you crazy and make you laugh„or cry./divDIV /divDIVJoin longtime goat lover, farmer, author, teacher, and cheesemaker Janet Hurst on a light-hearted journey through the goat world, as she introduces the reader to these remarkable animals. Extraordinary Goats is chock full of historical illustrations and modern photos of goats doing what goats do„riding motorcycles, climbing trees, chewing, singing, and being adorably irascible. If you own a goat, or long to, you�ll want Extraordinary Goats on your shelf./div

China’s economic and military rise dominates discussions of the world’s most populous country. Resilient authoritarian government is credited with great successes, but this book expands the discourse to include governance by village heads - who often ignored central politicians. Chinese reforms for prosperity started circa 1970 under rural and suburban leaders. They could act autonomously then because of unexpected political and technological opportunities. Their localization of power eroded socialist controls. Since 1990, central leaders have tried to reverse reforms made by resilient local bosses. New findings, especially from the Yangzi delta around Shanghai, challenge the top-down approach to thinking about governance. As Deng Xiaoping admitted, the nation’s spurt of prosperity began in local communities rather than Beijing. Reforms for triple-cropping and rural industrialization started long before Mao’s death (not in 1978, the date most writers cite). Country factories competed with state industries for materials and markets. Shortages by the 1980s led to inflation, government deficits, unofficial credit, unenforceable planning, illegal migrations, then international exports - and severe political tensions. After 1990, Party leaders sought policies to build a Leninist regime that is mostly post-socialist. These reactionary changes have lasted into the era of Xi Jinping. China’s reforms and subsequent changes can be understood as results of unintended situations not just ideas, and local not just central politics. This book will interest students and scholars of Chinese, as well as any readers who wonder about comparative development.

Booklist Editors’ Choice “Best Books of 2019” An intimate portrait of the joys and hardships of rural life, as one man searches for community, equality, and tradition in Appalachia Charles D. Thompson, Jr. was born in southwestern Virginia into an extended family of small farmers. Yet as he came of age he witnessed the demise of every farm in his family. Over the course of his own life of farming, rural education, organizing, and activism, the stories of his home place have been his constant inspiration, helping him identify with the losses of others and to fight against injustices. In Going Over Home, Thompson shares revelations and reflections, from cattle auctions with his grandfather to community gardens in the coal camps of eastern Kentucky, racial disparities of white and Black landownership in the South to recent work with migrant farm workers from Latin America. In this heartfelt first-person narrative, Thompson unpacks our country’s agricultural myths and addresses the history of racism and wealth inequality and how they have come to bear on our nation’s rural places and their people.

Your address was "rural route" if you lived on a winding country road. As the term disappeared, so did the way of life it represented. This book will strike a responsive chord in the heart of those who warm at the thought of the "country".