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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
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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
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Junior High and High School teachers who wish to introduce their students to Jesse Stuart have a unique teaching tool available in A Jesse Stuart Reader. This 352-page book was designed as a classroom text, and consists of eighteen stories, twenty-six poems, and excerpts from three autobiographical books — God’s Oddling, The Thread That Runs So True, and The Year of My Rebirth. An additional study and teaching aid is Ella DeMer’s 31-page “Commentary and Study Questions” section at the end of the book. Schools ordering 30 or more copies may purchase the book at $9 per copy, a 40% discount. Although most classroom sets are purchased for grades 7-12, this book is effective at the collegiate level, too. Please contact the JSF directly to take advantage of bulk discounts. SOFTBACK By Jesse Stuart
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Kentucky’s history is an important part of American development because the state lay directly in the path of the great westward movement. It was in Kentucky that the early adjustments to the rigors of frontier life were made. Along the Kentucky River, Daniel Boone and a small band of settlers repulsed British and Indian thrusts to guard the back door of the struggling young nation during the Revolution. Under George Rogers Clark, the Kentuckians even carried the fight to British and Indian concentrations along the Ohio. HARDBACK By Thomas D. Clark
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Sale!
8-Book Christmas Package
$75.00 Sale Price ($125.00 Retail)
I’ll Be Home for Christmas, by The Library of Congress True Christmas Stories From the Heart of Appalachia, compilation published by JSF in 2019 Appalachian Christmas Stories, JSF published Snow Day, by Billy Coffey The Christmas Quilt, by Thomas J. Davis The Beatinest Boy, by Jesse Stuart Missing Christmas, by Jack D. Ellis Christmas Day in the Morning, by Pearl S. Buck, illustrated by Mark Buehner -
In twenty not-so-tall tales about rural politics in the South in rougher and tougher days, Jesse Stuart reminds us afresh that there's nothing new about political skull-duggery. The fact that he puts such labels as the Little Party and the Big Party or the Greenoughs and the Dinwiddies on the candidates doesn't mean they aren't the same old Republicans and Democrats you know so well-the wonderful folks who put Watergate on your TV screen. HARDBACK By Jesse Stuart
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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