Beginning in 1937, a new book had been tumbling around in Jesse Stuart’s head. It was a book about education—a hymn and personal testimony to the profession of teaching. In 1948, he finished the book, and it was published the following year. “The Thread That Runs So True,” a classic of educational philosophy and educational history, is treasured by teachers throughout the world. It is the autobiographical story of [...]

Unlike Harriette Arnow and Jesse Stuart, whose novels have appeared on best-seller lists, James Still (1906-2001) never won a popular national audience. He did, however, win many honors and was well praised by a small but select band of supporters until late in his life when, between 1990 and his death in 2001, the University Press of Kentucky published five of Still’s works, including “Sporty Creek” which had previously [...]

The Jesse Stuart Foundation has just reprinted an attractive soft cover edition of “The Best-Loved Short Stories of Jesse Stuart,” a collection of 34 stories with an introduction by Robert Penn Warren. First published in 1982, this was the last Stuart book during the noted author’s lifetime – although several have been published since his death on February 17, 1984. The stories in this volume reveal the broad range [...]