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  • 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
  • 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
    SOFTBACK
  • 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  
  • 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
  • Jesse Stuart and Joe Clark's photographic essay of the town Lynchburg, located where the Blue Grass country meets the Cumberland Mountains of Tennessee. Known for the Jack Daniels distillery, the townspeople are loyal to their employer and to each other. But they are also "close-to-the-land" people who farm, raise livestock, and enjoy diversions which have nothing at all to do with the distillery. For the most part, it is their lives outside of working hours that Clark and Stuart have chosen to reflect. Photographs by Joe Clark Foreword by Jesse Stuart
  • Jesse Stuart's enduring story to this idyllic love that conquered hate and fear draws strength from the calmness of the surrounding Tennessee mountains, where nature, in all her glory, heals the wounds inflicted by men. It is a rich and poignant story, full of local mountain life and humorous touches. Daughter of the Legend is a master storyteller's finest, most lyric book, a book rewarding in the reading and delightful in the memory. It touches the heart and eternity. SOFTBACK By Jesse Stuart
  • 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
  • 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
  • A fictionalized account of the life of Jennie Sellards Wiley, who spent a year as an Indian captive in Kentucky and eventually escaped and returned to her husband in Virginia. SOFTBACK VERSION By Arville Wheeler
  • SOFTBACK VERSION By Wilma Dykeman
  • Out of stock
    Coming Down Cumberland: A History of the Maggard Family of Eastern Kentucky By V.N. "Bud" Phillips
  • 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
  • Amid war and the fading dream of the Confederacy, a wounded soldier and a destitute widow discover the true meaning of Christmas — and of sacrificial love. By Tamera Alexander
  • 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
  • A biography of Jesse's father, Mitchell Stuart - a rural man who could not read or write. But Mick Stuart had learned the important things in life from the hills around him. He began his work before daylight, and stopped only when his family, his farm, and his animals were cared for. Jesse Stuart tells how his father taught him the unalterable values of right and wrong, love of family, and love of education. By Jesse Stuart
  • A reprint of Stuart's 1952 poetry collection with a new afterword by Jim Wayne Miller. By Jesse Stuart
  • Life is not easy for the hill people of Eastern Kentucky. But these hills are their home . . . a home of clear sky, tangy air, and brown earth. Here are stories and poems about these warm-hearted people, written by Jesse Stuart, one of America's great story-tellers. By Jesse Stuart
  • A charming, heart-warming Christmas taleabout the power of family, tradition, and love. In 1875, Owen Thomas, a poor Welsh coal miner, falls in love with a beautiful London actress, Jessica Lavery. He builds her a cottage in his village, and enchants her with the promise of the holidays they'll share after they marry. According to his special Thomas family tradition, the Christmas tree must always be outside, where it can look up to God. Owen carves her an angel to go on top of their tree, with lavender eyes like hers, a token more meaningful to her than any engagement ring. When Jessica breaks off their romance, Owen, broken-hearted, wraps the angel in his mother's shawl and brings her to America. There, she looks down over five generations, witnessing peace and war, triumphs and tragedies, reminding all who see her that Christmas is the time when families and sweethearts can come together, laughter and goodwill can lighten even the heaviest burden, and magic fills the earth. By Jane Maas
  • SOFTBACK VERSION By Wilma Dykeman
  • Lydia Moore grew up in the Appalachian region before the Civil War and married Mark McQueen shortly after it began. Her husband went off to fight for the Union while her father and brother fought for the Confederates. While the men were gone, outliers raided Lydia's mother's home, assaulting her and stealing the livestock. SOFTBACK VERSION By Wilma Dykeman
  • 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

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