Smoke and Silence:
The Lives of Ol’ Mort
Smoke and Silence: The Lives of Ol’ Mort is a folk epic memoir built from memory, myth, and the stories passed down across generations in eastern Kentucky. Told in the voice of Mort’s great-great-grandson and rooted in tales shared by Mort’s grandson, this is the story of a man who lived hard and loved quietly—who survived a world war, outran federal agents, raised his family from the land, and became something larger than life.
God’s Oddling:
The title of this book, God’s Oddling, comes from something my father used to call me. For years he called me “oddling” because I had gone away to college and become a writer, and because I didn’t smoke the tobacco we grew or drink the mountain liquor brewed nearby. I was recovering from my heart attack when my father died. During those last days he often visited me at my house, and he still called me “oddling.” … —Jesse Stuart, Greenup, 1960
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Allan Eckert’s Winning of America Series
This Jesse Stuart Foundation best-selling series details accounts of frontiersmen and Native Americans and many dramatic events of the time period. Many years of research went into this popular series that also tells the story of wilderness America itself, its penetration and settlement.
Shop any of the 6 books in the series below, or BUY THE WHOLE SET!
Jesse Stuart Junior Books
Shop this popular book set for the young reader!
Latest JSF News
JSF best sellers ~ April 4-10
#1 (tie) A Penny’s Worth of Character, Jesse Stuart #1 (tie) The Frontiersmen, Allan W. Eckert #2 The Tale of the Devil: The Biography of Devil Anse Hatfield, Dr. Colman C. Hatfield and Robert Y. Spence #3 The Beatinest Boy, Jesse Stuart #4 White Squaw: The True Story of Jennie Wiley, Arville Wheeler #5 (tie) Andy Finds a Way, Jesse Stuart #5 (tie) The Rightful Owner, Jesse Stuart [...]
Regional Readers to meet April 26; Blood and Treasure focus
The Regional Readers book group meets Tuesday, April 26 in the former JSF Conference Room (now Right Eye Graphics). Coffee and conversation at 2:00 pm; book discussion at 2:30 pm. The April selection is Blood and Treasure: Daniel Boone and the Fight for America’s First Frontier by Bob Drury and Tom Clavin. In mid-18th century, anxious colonists are desperate to conquer and settle North America’s “First Frontier” beyond the [...]
JSF best sellers ~ March 28-April 3
#1 A Penny’s Worth of Character, Jesse Stuart #2 (tie) Appalachian Values, Loyal Jones #2 (tie) The Beatinest Boy, Jesse Stuart #3 The Frontiersmen, Allan W. Eckert #4 Blood and Treasure: Daniel Boone and the Fight for America’s First Frontier, Bob Drury and Tom Clavin #5 Raft Tide and Railroad – How We Lived and Died: Collected Memories and Stories of an Appalachian Family and its Seventh Son, Edwina [...]
A White Sports Coat and a Red Consternation
In 1957, Marty Robbins wrote and sang a song filled with teen angst that became number one on the country chart. “A White Sports Coat and a Pink Carnation” told the story of a young man who was “all dressed up for the dance,” but his date changed her mind and he was “all alone in romance.” In the spring of 1962, when I was a senior in high [...]
JSF best sellers ~ March 21-27
#1 The Frontiersmen, Allan W. Eckert #2 A Penny’s Worth of Character, Jesse Stuart #3 Wilderness Empire, Allan W. Eckert #4 (tie) Gateway to Empire, Allan W. Eckert #4 (tie) The Wilderness War, Allan W. Eckert #5 (tie) The Beatinest Boy, Jesse Stuart #5 (tie) The Conquerors, Allan W. Eckert #5 (tie) Traveling the Underground Railroad, Bruce Chadwick