JSF Publishing

  • Gateway to Empire

    $19.00$35.00
    The Winning of America Series: Book 5 of 6 With his unmatched ability to bring our vibrant early history to life, Allan W. Eckert now presents his latest saga of the battle for the North American wilderness. Here, in all its fascinating human drama, is the struggle to control the "gateway to empire" — Chicago Portage, the vital link between the East and the untapped riches of the west. Caught up in the turbulent sweep of events are two men--John Kinzie, a successful trader with a heroic taste for a new frontiers who fought to live in mutual respect with the Indians, and Tecumseh the Shawnee leader, a man of unparalleled wisdom and courage who would see his dream of a united Indian empire betrayed. As the British move toward the war 1812 both men and their people would be trapped in a tragic conflict that would threaten the land they so passionately loved. SOFTBACK & HARDBACK By Allan Eckert
  • Winning of the West: Book 3 Gold Fever focuses upon the early phase of the Gold Rush era, beginning in early 1848 and concluding in September, 1849. Allan Eckert, a widely admired historian, relates in compelling detail the intriguing chain of developments in this great national obsession, including the following profoundly influential ones:
    • Gold's initial discovery
    • The early-spring local gold rush
    • The entire country's evolving response to the California gold rumors
    HARDBACK By Allan Eckert
  • Greenup County, bordering the Ohio River in northeastern Kentucky, is rich in history and culture. Settlers first arrived in the mid-1700s and carved farms from hardwood forests. Lucy Virgin Downs, the first white child born west of the Alleghenies, lived in Greenup County, as did Jesse Boone, brother of Kentucky icon Daniel Boone. The 20th century brought industrialization and economic diversification to the historically agricultural area. Ashland Oil, a Fortune 500 company, maintained corporate headquarters in Greenup County. Two steel mills, a large rail yard, an excellent hospital, and a number of surface mines also provided employment to many people who continued to work their family farms, too. This economic progress was mirrored in every aspect of country life as education, health care, and recreation all improved dramatically. Today Greenup County’s history is appreciated by both longtime residence and cultural tourists. James M. Gifford serves as chief executive and senior editor of the Jesse Stuart Foundation, a regional publishing house. Dr. Gifford’s coauthors, Anthony and Suzanna Stephens, are eastern Kentuckians. The authors gathered photographs from dozens of personal and library collections.
    SOFTBACK By James M. Gifford, Anthony and Suzanna Stephens
  • Growing Up in the Last Small Town: A West Virginia Memoir is a humorous and poignant account of Bob Barnett, a bad student and undersized athlete coming of age in the 1950’s, but it is also the story of all of us who grew up in small towns across America between 1940 and 1960. It was a time of simple pleasures that included shedding winter coats on the first day of spring, playing baseball until dark, watching four-hour children’s matinees on Saturday, and breaking plates in the town dump, our favorite playground. It was a time when we wrote term papers, ate fish sandwiches at the Fireman’s Carnival, cheered our high school teams, and lived for soak hops and dances –a time when getting the right date for the prom was more important than the election of the president. The story is set in the unincorporated pottery town of Newell, West Virginia and captures the rhythm of life in small towns that we thought would never change. But change came quickly. Television became a staple of modern life in the 1950s offering Elvis, the evening news, and a vivid view of our changing world. School consolidations robbed the towns of their souls, supermarkets eliminated the need for corner grocery stores, and the closing of mills and factories brought an end to small towns as we knew them. The generation whose story is told in this book grew up in the last small town in America. SOFTBACK By Bob Barnett
  • This collection of early poems shows the literary promise of a boy who spent his childhood roaming the hills of eastern Kentucky, listening to the foxes and screech owls, to the river and the wind. By Jesse Stuart
  • A unique and personal book bound for its own kind of immortality. Head o' W-Hollow has a permanent if modest historical value. Jesse Stuart has a "rattrap memory" for turns of speech, and he has given a socio-historical record of daily life in his remote world — now so much less remote and more changed. By Jesse Stuart REVIEWS "Stuart's first book of short stories remains haunting, powerful, and humorous." "A unique book, bound for its own kind of immortality." — Robert Penn Warren "The most honest writing that has ever been done about Kentucky mountain people." — The Nation
  • 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
  • The Sparks family, salty old Peg Sparks, his wife Arn, and their 16-year-old son Sparkie lived in the Plum Grove Hills in a one room cabin. They don't have a lot, but they would not turn a stray hound dog away from their door and certainly not a stray boy like pale, spindly Didway Hargis, who has run away from his wealthy home in town. SOFTBACK By Jesse Stuart COLLECTOR EDITIONS ARE AVAILABLE; PLEASE CONTACT THE JSF DIRECTLY
  • Jesse Stuart Junior Book "What lies in the world outside of Clearwater Valley?" Sunny Logan always wondered. Twice each day, for the two years he had been going to school, he hurried to the railroad tracks. There he could watch Huey the engineer drive his engine No. 5 along the Eastern Kentucky Railroad. Sunny would not miss seeing Huey for anything in the whole world. SOFTBACK By Jesse Stuart
  • Jesse Stuart Junior Book Set (9 Books)
    • Andy Finds a Way
    • Beatinest Boy
    • Bluetick Pig
    • Come to My Tomorrowland
    • Huey the Engineer
    • Old Ben
    • Penny's Worth of Character
    • Red Mule
    • Rightful Owner
    SOFTBACKS By Jesse Stuart
  • Jesse Stuart was a paradox. For a period of his life, Jesse slept with a loaded gun under his pillow, yet he also carried a typewriter with him wherever he went. He courted woman with mud on his boots and pistols on his hips, but he had wildflowers in his hands and envelops completely covered with chicken-scratched poems in his pockets. He was petty yet often kind, mean-spirited but truly helpful to beginning writers, clannish yet hospitable to visitors HARDBACK 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
  • Blue Jacket’s popularity inspired Allan W. Eckert to write Johnny Logan, the true story of a Shawnee who became a U.S. spy, and it was first published in 1983. Logan was one of the greatest Indian friends the white man ever had on the American frontier; and he was the only Native American buried with full United States military honors. By Allan Eckert
  • A reprint of Stuart's 1952 poetry collection with a new afterword by Jim Wayne Miller. By Jesse Stuart
  • The Kentucky Writers Hall of Fame (2013-2017). HARDBACK By James B. Goode
  • A collection of essays aimed at personal eternal areas rather than commentary on time oriented subjects. To Stuart, in these essays, it is okay to enjoy the reading and "get away from it all." By Jesse Stuart
  • Originally published in 1934, this book was so successful that the first printing of the first edition sold out in less than a month! Man With a Bull-Tongue Plow is a collection of sonnets that Stuart weaves into a personal narrative describing the rural Kentucky life and events he knew so well. Packed with emotion, and sometimes harsh observations, the poetry in this book comes from the heart of a young man who was always full of enthusiasm. At this stage of his life, Jesse Stuart was bursting with pure expression and had not yet learned to polish his poetry in an effort to make it more palatable to a broader audience and Interestingly, that's exactly what made this volume so popular. It was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and selected as both One of the 100 Best Books in America and One of the1000 Great Books of the World. An introduction by John H. Spurlock adds context and insight to Stuart's writing. HARDCOVER By Jesse Stuart
  • Mark My Words: Tales of Brandon Webb, O.J. Mayo, and Other Sports Legends of Northeastern Kentucky SOFTBACK By Mark Maynard
  • Written by a beloved American author who grew up in the foothills of the Appalachians, these twenty-one short stories explore the daily lives and activities of Kentucky mountaineers. Life, animate existence, absorbs Jesse Stuart. Never is it more vital than when juxtaposed with death, hence the contrasting motifs of life and death permeating his work. In this book, Stuart tells the stories of the hills and the men who live there. They “curse the mountains,” but love them too, he says. Existing in dimensions of real geography and elaborate imagination, Stuart moves easily between autobiography and fiction and often does not bother to distinguish one from the other. Greenup County, Kentucky blends into Greenwood County, and W-Hollow in both fiction and fact is subject to the proprietorship of the bard of Appalachia. By Jesse Stuart
  • Out of stock
    Within the pages of this book, more than sixty-five local combat veterans of World War II share their experiences. There are stories of life in the foxholes, on the beaches, having ships torpedoed out from under them on the deep oceans, and bailing out of burning bombers behind enemy lines. Soldiers and sailors and airmen saw their young friends die beside them but found no time for mourning. They spent sleepless nights with artillery shells exploding all around. They were scared and homesick. Sam Piatt, calling on his thirty years of experience as an award-winning daily newspaper reporter, relates these stories so poignantly that at times it seems the reader can actually hear and feel the battle as they are described. Men of Valor is a book that will keep the reader riveted to the combat stories of World War II veterans from Ohio and Kentucky. SOFTBACK By Sam Piatt
  • Jesse Stuart's strong views on teaching, delinquency, and parental responibilities, as well as his sharp assessment of boards of education, are more than a novelist's imagination. Mr. Gallion's School is based on Jesse Stuart's years of personal experience as a principal and teacher. As one of America's most popular writers, Stuart makes teaching and high school administration come alive in a moving and impassioned novel. Mr. Gallion's School is an enjoyable read that's great for high school students and out-of-school adults. A powerful reminder of the sacrifices that earlier generations made in order to get an education, it's a book with a great character education message in every chapter. By Jesse Stuart
  • The Civil War affected the daily lives of almost everyone in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, a slave holding state that chose not to secede from the United States. Here are the untold stories of lesser known combatants or the folks back home who suffered in so many ways from the ravages of war. Seventeen chapters range in topics from interviews with former slaves to an examination of Mary Todd Lincoln's family's military involvement in the war. SOFTBACK By Marshall Myers
  • This selection of stories span Stuart's entire career as a writer of short stories. None of the stories have been previously published in any of the collections of his short stories. The book includes Stuart's thoughts on the literary form of the short story, first published in 1975, and never reprinted. David R. Palmore searched through many magazines and journals, some quite obscure, to bring together the collection. 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
  • Old Ben

    $4.00$10.00
    Jesse Stuart Junior Book By Jesse Stuart
  • Patriots & Heroes: Eastern Kentucky Soldiers of WW II profiles the physical pain, and also the psychological and emotional stress suffered by a dozen of America's Citizen Soldiers in WW II. Their stories are representative of the courage, suffering, sacrifice and separation faced by the American GIs of that war. Included among these twelve are stories of POWs, KIAs, MIAs and many that returned home safely to become valuable, productive members of their community. The author uses interviews, letters, documents, and personal experiences to poignantly present their stories. HARDBACK By Jack D. Ellis
  • Jesse Stuart Junior Book A Penny's Worth of Character is a lesson in honesty that the reader, young or old, will not easily forget. This delightful story is full of details from Stuart's; native eastern Kentucky. Shan Shelton is going to the store for his mother. If he had a dime, he could buy his favorite treat, a chocolate bar and a lemon soda pop. SOFTBACK By Jesse Stuart
  • Throughout these stories the Kentucky hill country is a persuasive evocative background. It is in this land of sharp contrasts and powerful traditions, between barren, razorbacked hills of rock and yellow clay and lush green valleys, that a proud people act out the daily drama of their lives, here recorded by Jesse Stuart's sensitive pen. By Jesse Stuart
  • Sharon McDonald grew up on a farm near Shelbyville in Bedford County, Tennessee, and, more the seven decades later, she still lives in the same house and on that same land, Her story of family live covers four generations, It is a strong contribution to our understanding of the hard-working middle class that has made America a great nation - a middle class that is beginning to appear more frequently in Appalachian memoirs. It is a gracefully written remembrance that neither exploits nor exaggerates the difficulties of rural life in southern Appalachia. It is a rich tapestry of the work, emotions, thoughts, and words of a family that represents millions of unrecognized rural people who are the true flesh and blood of history. SOFTBACK By Sharon McDonald
  • Presidents have been visiting Kentucky since 1819 arriving by horseback, carriage, train, steamboat, bus, and airplane. Presidential Visits to Kentucky: 1819-2017 details more than 120 occasions when the President of the United States came to the Commonwealth. It chronicles when the president came, why, where he went, and who he saw as he made history. HARDBACK VERSION By Wayne Onkst
  • In this family history, “Raft Tide and Railroad: How We Lived and Died — Collected Memories and Stories of an Appalachian Family and Its Seventh Son,” Appalachian author, poet, and editor Dr. Edwina Pendarvis, was guided by sage advice from a grandmother, Jet Johnson, known only to her through family stories and photographs. Not long before Johnson was murdered, she asked one of her sons to note the strength of a bundle of twigs – as opposed to an individual twig – and see it as a metaphor for family strength – a metaphor originated by an earlier Appalachian – the warrior Tecumseh. In “Raft Tide and Railroad,” the author has preserved her family’s history and recognized its strength through accounts that span seven generations of experiences in Virginia, Kentucky, and West Virginia from the early 1800s to the present. SOFTBACK VERSION By Edwina Pendarvis
  • Jesse Stuart Junior Book Red Mule is the story of a friendship between a boy named Scrappie and a strange man called "Red Mule." Red Mule had worked with mules all his life and he loved them. Now tractors were coming into use and there was little work for mules. The whole town laughed. SOFTBACK By Jesse Stuart
  • Jesse Stuart Junior Book Mike finds a hound dog in the pasture which is obviously lost. Someone has been mean to the dog, and Mike wants him very much, but the hound won't come near him. Finally, his father helps him bring the dog home. After Mike and Speckles become inseparable, a neighbor claims to be the dog's rightful owner. Two dramatic encounters show that a good hound never forgets his real master. SOFTBACK By Jesse Stuart
  • 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
  • Out of stock
    Seven By Jesse is a collection of stories originally published by the Indiana Council of Teachers of English in 1970. These stories share a common theme, as they deal with survival of old ways of life in Appalachia and with a culture in transition. By Jesse Stuart
  • Jesse Stuart wrote a collection of poetry, Songs of a Mountain Plowman, that was published by the Jesse Stuart Foundation in 1986, two years after Stuart's death. The book was edited by the late Jim Wayne Miller, a great Appalachian scholar and long-time member of the JSF Board of Directors. Twenty-five years after its first appearance, the JSF re-issued this Special Edition hardback, an important book for Stuart fans who wish to understand Stuart's development as a poet. HARDBACK By Jesse Stuart

Title

Go to Top