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Jesse Stuart's honest, earthy writing about the southern hill folk he knows so well has made him one of America's foremost authors of fiction. Here are twenty of his best stories that spring up from the pungent soil of Kentucky, told in his plain but highly colorful style. Stories about the Stuart family and neighbors from his beloved W-Hollow, all packed with Kentucky characters of all sorts and sizes. SOFTBACK By Jesse Stuart -
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 -
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 -
Jesse Stuart Junior Book This is the story of a teenage girl, Joy Burton, who finds a lame albino fawn in the forest. Joy, a victim of polio, feels great compassion for the injured fawn and tenderly nurses him back to health. Inspired by her pet’s recovery, Joy becomes convinced that the operation her doctor proposed for her will be successful and that she will someday be able to walk without crutches. SOFTBACK By Jesse Stuart -
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 -
THIS IS NOT A SALE! -
God’s Oddling is a book I wanted to write all my life. It is about my father, Mitchell (Mick) Stuart, who was unable to read or write anything except his own name. He was a great man — great in spirit and great in his influence upon others. I loved and respected him. When I set out to write this book I discovered that I had been writing it all my life, for I had already published poems, stories, and articles about my father. 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.” It was then, just before he died, that I realized my father was one of God’s oddlings, not me. He was a proud, independent gentleman who made his own decisions and went his own way.—Jesse Stuart, Greenup, 1960
HARDBACK VERSION Jesse Stuart -
Lyrical prose and warm watercolor illustrations bring a "certain part of the country called Appalachia" alive for young readers. Two award-winning artists, forever touched by their experiences growing up in this unique landscape, have teamed to create a quietly powerful and beautifully crafted portrait of life in a timeless place. SOFTBACK VERSION By Cynthia Rylant -
In Hidden Heroism, Robert Edgerton investigates the history of Afro-American participation in American wars, from the French and Indian War to the present. He argues that blacks in American society have long-suffered from a "natural coward" stereotype that is implicit in the racism propagated from America's earliest days, and often intensified as blacks slowly received freedom in American society. For instance, blacks served admirably in various wars, returned home after their service to short-term recongnition, and then soon found themselves even more seriously entrenched in a racist system because they were perceived as a threat to whites. This was true, Edgerton argues, until the Civil Rights movement and Vietnam, though the stereotypes have not been fully eradicated. In this book, Edgerton provides an accessible and well-informed tour through this little-known, but significant aspect of race in American military history. SOFTBACK VERSION By Robert B. Edgerton -
The Appalachian Trail is America’s most beloved trek, with millions of hikers setting foot on it every year. Yet few are aware of the fascinating backstory of the dreamers and builders who helped bring it to life over the past century. The conception and building of the Appalachian Trail is a story of unforgettable characters who explored it, defined it, and captured national attention by hiking it. From Grandma Gatewood—a mother of eleven who thru-hiked in canvas sneakers and a drawstring duffle—to Bill Bryson, author of the best-selling A Walk in the Woods, the AT has seized the American imagination like no other hiking path. The 2,000-mile-long hike from Georgia to Maine is not just a trail through the woods, but a set of ideas about nature etched in the forest floor. This character-driven biography of the trail is a must-read not just for ambitious hikers, but for anyone who wonders about our relationship with the great outdoors and dreams of getting away from urban life for a pilgrimage in the wild. HARDBACK VERSION Philip D'Anieri -
Fully illustrated color hardback of this timeless classic. HARDBACK VERSION By Christian Birmingham -
It is the mid-1700s, and England’s colonists in North America are eager to explore and settle the forest frontier west of the Appalachian mountains. This is the setting of the new book (2021), “Blood and Treasure.” The guide to this epic narrative is America’s first pathfinder, Daniel Boone – not the coonskin cap-wearing caricature of popular culture, but the flesh-and-blood frontiersman and Revolutionary War hero whose explorations would become the stuff of legend. HARDBACK VERSION By Bob Drury and Tom Clavin
