-
Boston University, the site of the world’s finest repository of 20th Century literature, praises Billy C. Clark as “one of the South’s most distinguished writers.” In this fascinating and highly readable book, Clark, founder and editor of Virginia Writing, writes of his own astonishingly primitive childhood in an Appalachian river town, Catlettsburg, Kentucky, at the junction of the Big Sandy and the Ohio Rivers. Billy C. Clark was a member of a sprawling, ragged family. His father was an intelligent, fiddle-playing shoemaker with little formal education. His mother often took in washing to help provide food for the family. Billy grew up in a derelict house, “The Leaning Tower,” on the banks of the Ohio. Always hungry, often dirty, and without sufficient clothing, he led an adventurous life on the two rivers, swimming, fishing, and salvaging flotsam from the frequent floods. He set trout lines for fish and trap lines for mink and muskrats, and he walked fourteen miles before school to clear his traps. He learned laughter from his magnificent mother and wisdom from his father, who taught him that “poor folks have a long row to hoe….” Billy was the only one of his family to seek an education, and through his traps, his river salvage, and odd jobs, he earned money to put himself through school. The book ends with a powerful account of his parents’ pride at his graduation. Time Magazine said that this book is “as authentically American as Huckleberry Finn.” It is a touching account of a boy and two rivers. It is a must for public and school libraries, or anyone interested in Appalachian history or literature. By Billy C. Clark -
The people, the lore, even the sounds of eastern Kentucky come vividly to life in this affectionate story of a boy and his search dog. In the shadow of Sourwood Mountain, fourteen-year-old Aram Tate is absorbed in the sometimes painful process of growing up. His all-consuming passion is to own a hound dog of his very own, and his efforts to achieve this dream involve him in a series of amusing adventures which broaden his boy's-eye view of the world. Through his friendship with ne'er-do-well Eb ringtom, Aram Learns the ways of men as they never were described in books. Among the other colorful characters who contribute to the boy's education are Lighting and Napoleon, two imcomparably wily gamecocks; Thusla, Eb's great hound whose exploits can only be described as apocryphal; and Rile Feder and his dog, the bluetick Tweedle, who fears neither coon nor fox. SOFTBACK By Billy C. Clark -
Authors represented in Appalachian Love Stories include:- Jesse Stuart
- Ancella R. Bickley
- James M. Gifford
- Jimmy Lowe
- James B. Goode
- Edwina Pendarvis
- Laura Treacy Bentley
- Bruce Radford Richey
- Ina Everman
- Danny Fulks
- Loyal Jones
- Billy C. Clark
- Linda Scott DeRosier
- Christina St. Clair
- Alexandra Combs Hudson
- Kate Larken
- Barbara Smith
- Carol Van Meter
-
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 -
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 -
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 -
This nature novel, by following the hatching and lifetime experiences of the last know wild passenger pigeon, chronicles the life, natural history, and ultimate extinction of this species which was once the most abundant bird species in North America. The last wild bird was killed in 1900; the last captive bird died in 1914. By Allan Eckert -
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 -
In 1963, Harry M. Caudill published his now classic account of the reckless, deliberate despoliation of the Appalachian Plateau, Night Comes to the Cumberlands. Thirteen years later, in The Watches of the Night, Caudill continued the heartbreaking story of an incredibly rich land inhabited by a grindingly poor people whose problems, despite state and local aid and an unprecedented boom in coal, had worsened: the land was being stripped more rapidly than ever; the people’s traditional relationship with the land was being uprooted, and their old customs eliminated by standardization Both a narrative history and a polemic against greed and waste, The Watches of the Night hammers at “the profligacy growing out of the persistent myth of superabundance.” The author ponders an even darker future if the cycle of boom and bust is not broken. He writes: “Americans have never understood or respected the finely textured, little-hill terrain of the Cumberland Plateau.” Neither the farmers nor the miners who followed the early pioneers saw it as a place cherish. Through decades that have lengthened to nearly two centuries the land has fought back, sometimes with savage floods and always with persistent efforts to reforest. “But now times runs out and our “inexhaustible” resources have turned finite….The Kentucky Cumberlands are many things, but most of all they are a warning.” By Harry M. Caudill -
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 -
In 1780, the British launched a raid into Kentucky led by Captain Henry Bird to assist the Native Americans to reclaim their hunting grounds from white settlers. The raid targeted Kentucky's Ruddell's Fort and Martin's Station and captured approximately 350 white settlers comprised of men, women, and children. On June 26, 1780, the British and Native Americans marched the captives to Detroit on a 50-day march under brutal conditions, killing several of them along the way. The British marched 129 of these settlers, who were eventually released after the war of escaped. The remaining settlers held by the Native Americans were sold into slavery, adopted into a tribe, sold or eventually released. SOFTBACK VERSION Lewis D. Nicholls -
Out of stock
This young adult historical novel is based on an exciting and little known incident in the life of the famed Kentucky frontiersman Daniel Boone when, after being captured by Shawnee Indians and subsequently adopted into their tribe, he then escapes and returns to Boonesboro, only to find himself charged with treason and court-martialed. In a brilliant display of ability, Boone defends himself at the trial and gradually the truth about what really happened emerges. A fascinating glimpse of Kentucky's pioneer period as well as a penetrating look at frontier courtroom justice. By Allan Eckert -
The Winning of America Series: Book 2 of 6 For over two hundred years no Indian force in America was so powerful and feared as the Iroquois League. Throughout two thirds of this continent, the cry of "The Iroquois are coming!" was enough to demoralize entire tribes. But these Iroquois occupied and controlled a vast wilderness empire which beckoned like a precious gem to foreign powers. France and England secured toeholds and suddenly each was claiming as its own this land of the Iroquois. Alliance with the Indians was the key; whichever power controlled them could destroy the other. Wilderness Empire is the gripping narrative of the eighteenth-century struggle of these two powers to win for themselves the allegiance of the Indians in a war for territorial dominance, yet without letting these Indians know that the prize of the war would be this very Iroquois land. It is the story of English strength hamstrung by incredible incompetence, of French power sapped by devastating corruption. It is the story of the English, Indian and French individuals whose lives intertwine in the greatest territorial struggle in American history--the French and Indian War. SOFTBACK & HARDBACK By Allan Eckert -
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 -
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 retired publisher shares the wit, wisdom and real-life observations of his most popular newspaper commentaries in East Kentucky. SOFTBACK VERSION By Keith Kappes -
The Kentucky Writers Hall of Fame (2013-2017). HARDBACK By James B. Goode -
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 -
The Ohio River, a principal route for pioneers pushing westward along its 981-mile course from Pennsylvania through Kentucky and Indiana to Illinois, was the scene of fierce battles among warring Indian tribes, Shawnee, Miami, Cherokee, Iroquois, etc., and between Native Americans and white settlers. Tapping journals, letters, diaries and government memoranda from 1768 to 1799, and fleshing out his panoramic chronicle with reconstructed dialogue adapted from primary sources, historian-novelist Eckert has fashioned an epic narrative history of the struggle for dominance of the Ohio River Valley that makes compelling reading. The lives of notable pioneer families (Zanes, Bradys, Wetzels), incursions of traders, explorers, colonists, adventurers and the historic exploits of George Washington, Daniel Boone, George Rogers Clark and others intersect. SOFTBACK By Allan Eckert -
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 -
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 -
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 -
Looking through the pages of this amazing book is like traveling back in time. The brilliant black and white photography of Joe Clark and a forward and descriptive text by Jesse Stuart, makes these rural Tennessee images come more alive than a Norman Rockwell painting. There is something so refreshing in this age of digital photographic trickery and enhancements to see the purity of these incredible images. Do yourself a favor and check out this book. Whether your interest is photography, nostalgia, or history, you will not be disappointed. By Joe Clark Foreword by Jesse Stuart -
The protagonist of this novel is heroic, majestic, a born leader, a devoted husband and proud father. He is destined to be long remembered by whoever reads about his life. He is a great auk. By Allan Eckert
