Taps For Private Tussie is Jesse Stuart’s best-known book. Published in 1943, Taps quickly captivated America’s reading public. It became an instant best seller, with over a million copies sold in the 1940s and 1950s. Taps became a Book of the Month Club selection in [...]
The April Regional Readers selection is 40 Acres and No Mule by Janice Holt Giles. In the late 1940s, Janice and Henry Giles moved from Louisville, Kentucky, back to the Appalachian hill country where Henry had grown up and where his family had lived [...]
As my tribute to Women’s History Month, I present a book written by my friend—and JSF Board Member—Edwina Pendarvis, a great scholar and a great person. Edwina was born in Floyd County, Kentucky. She has lived much of her life in eastern Kentucky and [...]
Reviewed by Eliane Fowler Palencia ~ James Gifford, director of the Jesse Stuart Foundation, is always careful to set the metes and bounds of his books. Of his biography of Willie Sandlin, Kentucky’s only World War I Medal of Honor recipient, he states, “this [...]
Because I have managed a non-profit publishing organization for almost forty years, I have had some strange encounters with the general public. People often simply do not understand what a publishing house does, and they confuse printing with publishing. I calmly explain that “We [...]
Reviewed by Elaine Fowler Palencia ~ More than 30 years have passed since the winds generated by Jesse Hilton Stuart’s astonishing energy blew through eastern Kentucky. The experiences of subsistence farming and teaching in one-room schools that he drew on to become “America’s most [...]
New year’s resolutions reflect personal values. Many resolutions relate to our physical being: we resolve to lose weight or start an exercise program. Some resolutions relate to strengthening our spiritual lives, but it seems to me that people should also resolve to improve their minds.In [...]
Well into his sixties and with a history of heart problems, Jesse Stuart continued to write and publish at an incredible pace. He also continued to teach and directed seven creative writing workshops at Murray State University from 1969 to 1977. The University established [...]
“True Christmas Stories From the Heart of Appalachia,” is a book that captures the spirit of Christmas in 43 stories by 39 authors. Thirty-five of the stories are from Kentucky and the others are from neighboring states. This book was sponsored by JSF Board [...]
After five years of intense research and thoughtful writing, Jesse Stuart Foundation Board Member Edwina Pendarvis has published “Another World: Ballet Lessons from Appalachia.” This boundary-crossing book views ballet through the eyes of twenty-four Appalachian women — most from the Tri-State area — who [...]
