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 ~ Jan. 10-16
#1 The Frontiersmen, Allan W. Eckert #2 A Penny’s Worth of Character, Jesse Stuart #3 Wilderness Empire, Alan W. Eckert #4 (tie) The Conquerors, Allan W. Eckert #4 (tie) Dark Hills To Westward: The Saga of Jenny Wiley, Harry M. Caudill #4 (tie) Simon Kenton: Kentucky Scout, Thomas D. Clark #5 (tie) The Beatinest Boy, Jesse Stuart #5 (tie) The Court-Martial of Daniel Boone, Allan W. Eckert #5 (tie) [...]
Baseball is a love that formed in childhood
In response to the work stoppage in major league baseball, I offer the following personal essay. It is an exercise in whimsy – rather than serious scholarship, but there are some heartfelt truths here, also. I met my one true love in the fourth grade, and I have loved her ever since. Her name is baseball. By my sixth grade year, we were going steady. I was [...]
JSF best sellers ~ Jan. 3-9
#1 A Penny’s Worth of Character, Jesse Stuart #2 The Frontiersmen, Allan W. Eckert #3 Cruelly Murdered: The Murder of Mary Magdalene Pitts and Other Kentucky True Crime Stories, Keven McQueen #4 (tie) The Appalachians: America’s First and Last Frontier, Evans, Santelli, George-Warren, editors #4 (tie) Gateway to Empire, Allan W. Eckert #4 (tie) Wilderness Empire, Alan W. Eckert #5 (tie) The Conquerors, Allan W. Eckert #5 (tie) The [...]
A Jesse Stuart Reader
High school teachers and home-school teachers who wish to introduce their students to Jesse Stuart have a unique teaching tool available in “A Jesse Stuart Reader,” reprinted by the Jesse Stuart Foundation in 1988. Originally published in 1963, the book was designed as a classroom text; it consists of eighteen stories, twenty-six poems, and excerpts from three autobiographical books – “God’s Oddling,” “The Thread That Runs So True,” and “The [...]
JSF best sellers ~ Dec. 27-Jan. 2
#1 A Penny’s Worth of Character, Jesse Stuart #2 The Frontiersmen, Allan W. Eckert #3 Gateway to Empire, Allan W. Eckert #4 (tie) Ava’s Man, Rick Bragg #4 (tie) Cruelly Murdered: The Murder of Mary Magdalene Pitts and Other Kentucky True Crime Stories, Keven McQueen #5 Wilderness Empire, Alan W. Eckert