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In the year 1771, a white boy named Marmaduke Van Swearingen was captured by the Shawnee Indians in what is now West Virginia, but was then the edge of the American frontier. Impressed with his bravery, he was not killed but instead was taken to Ohio where he was adopted into the tribe and given the name Blue Jacket, from the blue shirt he was wearing at the time of his capture. Eckert has taken all of the known facts of Blue Jacket's life and has woven them into a narrative of compelling interest, with a very different perspective on the way America was settled. The reader will learn what life was really like on the dangerous frontier wilderness that was West Virginia, Kentucky and Ohio before the Revolutionary War. By Allan Eckert -
Though there are many biographies of the great Shawnee chief Tecumseh (1768-1813), this effort by historical novelist Allan W. Eckert may spark new interest — and controversy — with its "hidden dialogue" technique. After more than 25 years of research, the author felt free to recreate Tecumseh's conversations and thoughts in what proves to be an entertaining blend of fact and fiction. The orator and organizer's life was shaped by his tribe's tragic confrontation with westward-moving whites, who encroached on Native American lands along the Ohio River valley. His long struggle against this dispossession led Tecumseh to create a historic confederacy of tribes, but this crowning achievement was destroyed by his own brother at Tippecanoe in 1811. SOFTCOVER By Allan Eckert -
Best known for his nonfiction work "Night Comes to the Cumberlands," Harry M. Caudill also wrote fiction, including “Dark Hills to Westward: The Saga of Jenny Wiley,” first published in 1969 and recently reprinted in a new softback edition by the Jesse Stuart Foundation. When Jenny was an old woman, a preacher had sat down with her and wrote out her captivity story. Although Jenny may have embellished it many times, it is the only first-hand account we have, and it’s the primary source for Caudill’s novel. Briefly, here is her story. Thomas and Jenny Wiley had pioneered land on Walker’s Creek in Bland County, Virginia. On October 1, 1789, while Thomas was away, a small band of Indians, seeking revenge for a recent defeat at the hands of white settlers, attacked the Wiley cabin and killed and scalped Jenny’s three older children and her brother. Jenny, seven months pregnant, was taken captive along with her baby son, Adam. SOFTBACK VERSION By Harry M. Caudill -
Oliver Elliott “Zeke” Stayner grew up during the Great Depression and returned to Peebles, Ohio, after serving in the United States Army Air Corps during World War II. Zeke wed his hometown sweetheart, became a small-business owner, and began a family, settling into the post-war American milieu, well on his way to a happily-ever-after life. That changed in a flash on the night of the Monday after Thanksgiving, 1949, when Zeke, characteristically on a mission of mercy, was brutally slain. It’s from this event that the book draws its title, with the poignant image of a wife looking for her husband, not yet knowing what she would find, on a dark, frigid, rainy night that served as both reality and metaphor. SOFTBACK By Robert E. Hawkins -
The Big Sandy Valley — sometimes called Kentucky's last frontier — has been shaped by a series of extraordinary individuals and families over the course of the past 200 years. Hidden Heroes of the Big Sandy Valley profiles and celebrates an exclusive group of these people. The book contains 22 biographical essays and one cultural essay by 17 authors. The people who are profiled in this book are true representatives of millions of people who have populated the Big Sandy Valley for more than two hundred years. HARDBACK Compiled and edited by James M. Gifford -
A Collection of essays, short stories, and poetry from writers, including Jesse Stuart, Billy C. Clark, James B. Goode, and Thomas D. Clark. SOFTBACK -
Traveling The Underground Railroad: A Visitor's Guide to More Than 300 Sites describes current private homes, churches, restaurants, and halls in the United States and Canada that once served as Underground Railroad sites, and includes contact information for tourism offices and historical societies. SOFTBACK VERSION By Bruce Chadwick -
Appalachian Murders & Mysteries: True Stories from West Virginia, Kentucky, and Southern Ohio, 23 stories by 17 authors compiled and edited by James M. Gifford and Edwina D. Pendarvis. The tragic events described in this book could have happened anywhere, but they happened here in central Appalachia. They are a part of our history. Together, these stories create a literary “mourning quilt,” commemorating the innocent and the guilty and piecing together significant remnants of 200 years of life in eastern Kentucky, southern Ohio, and West Virginia. HARDBACK Compiled and edited by James M. Gifford and Edwina D. Pendarvis -
This is the journal Jesse Stuart kept following his near fatal heart attack in 1955. It was a time of his severest trial yet greatest fulfillment which began in an oxygen tent and ended with his happy return to a full and vigorous life. Here are the innermost feelings and moods of a man whose heart may give out at any moment, the new respect and even love that he develops for his heart, his thoughts about God, life, land, and home. By Jesse Stuart -
The late Harry M. Caudill saw the land and people of Appalachia with an unflinching eye. His classic, Night Comes to the Cumberlands, follows the long road traveled by the Southern mountaineer. By Harry M. Caudill -
On September 26, 1918, during the devastating Battle of the Meuse-Argonne Forest, Kentucky native Willie Sandlin, acting alone, attacked and disabled three German machine gun nests and killed all twenty-four occupants. During the day’s fighting, Sandlin “voluntarily and deliberately” raced forward into dangers so great that he could hardly hope to survive. For his “conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty,” Sandlin received the Medal of Honor, which was presented to him by General John J. Pershing before Sandlin returned to America at the end of the war. HARDBACK VERSION FULL COLOR INTERIOR By James M. Gifford -
This book examines Jesse Stuart's life in a broad historical context and shares his enduring legacy through his broad range of accomplishments as an author, educator, conservationist, spokesman for Kentucky and Appalachia, compulsive correspondent, world traveler, father, husband, and community-minded neighbor. In a broad historical context, it shows how Stuart has immortalized himself through personal relationships as well as through people who read his books. SOFTBACK & HARDBACK By James. M. Gifford
