Angels of Appalachia


Book Description

The fabric of Appalachian Folklore is woven with mysterious tales of magic and the mountains. Folks in Appalachia have told stories about angels for decades and truly believe in their existence. These celestial beings are our messengers. They teach us, protect us, and sometimes have mischief or even malevolence in mind. Angels are said to visit the living in both light and dark forms. Angels of Appalachia: A Celestial Collection of Darkness and Light, invites you to believe with us. Light or dark, allow these tales to unfold as feathery wings within your own imagination. Our journey on earth is anything but ordinary . . . when we entertain angels unaware.




Angels of the Appalachians


Book Description

Angels of the Appalachians is a fresh and endearing tale, filled with folksy phrases and amusing adages of the Southern United States. It's the story of two women who meet in 1980, gray-haired Erma telling her life story to Annie, a young college student living in Charleston, West Virginia. The tale she tells is also of two women, and their adventures beginning in the coalfields of Red Ash, growing up near Thurmond, and eventually finding their way to Charleston in 1915. Strong mountain women, historical places, faith, and grief are themes explored in this account of a friendship that spans across decades. You will find yourself wishing to call on the fine folks of the Appalachian Mountains, relax for a spell, and stumble upon the angels who made West Virginia so gloriously wild and wonderful.




Appalachian Elegy


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A collection of poems centered around life in Appalachia addresses topics ranging from the marginalization of the region's people to the environmental degradation it has endured throughout history.




Kentucky Superstitions


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Appalachian Book of the Dead


Book Description

AN ETHEREAL TALE OF HUNGRY GHOSTS A psychopathic killer disappears into the mountains and haunts the troubled residents. After the murderous Angel Jones escapes from a prison work crew, he mysteriously vanishes deep into the North Carolina woods forcing newcomers Cal and Joy McAlister to deal with his macabre presence lingering in the secluded forest. Burdened with grief, guilt, and unfilled dreams, Cal and Joy are joined by an oddball handyman and a young detoxing neighbor as they grapple with the enigma of Angel's menacing specter. Each of them brings their private ghosts to live and gives their worst fears flesh. This Southern Gothic tale blends ancient metaphysics with tantalizing thrills to make readers keenly aware of the wonders and woes of the world.




Dorie


Book Description

Dorie's story begins with her childhood on an isolated mountain farm, where we see first-hand how her parents combined back-breaking labor with intense personal pride to produce everything their family needed--from food and clothing to tools and toys--from the land. Lumber companies began to invade the mountains, and Dorie's family took advantage of the financial opportunities offered by the lumber industry, not realizing that in giving up their lands they were also letting go of a way of life. Along with their machinery, the lumber companies brought in many young men, one of whom, Fred Cope, became Dorie's husband. After the lumber companies stripped the mountains of their timber, outsiders set the area aside as a national park, requiring Dorie, now married with a family of her own, to move outside of her beloved mountains.




What You are Getting Wrong about Appalachia


Book Description

In 2016, headlines declared Appalachia ground zero for America's "forgotten tribe" of white working class voters. Journalists flocked to the region to extract sympathetic profiles of families devastated by poverty, abandoned by establishment politics, and eager to consume cheap campaign promises. What You Are Getting Wrong About Appalachia is a frank assessment of America's recent fascination with the people and problems of the region. The book analyzes trends in contemporary writing on Appalachia, presents a brief history of Appalachia with an eye toward unpacking Appalachian stereotypes, and provides examples of writing, art, and policy created by Appalachians as opposed to for Appalachians. The book offers a must-needed insider's perspective on the region.




A Walk in the Woods


Book Description

God only knows what possessed Bill Bryson, a reluctant adventurer if ever there was one, to undertake a gruelling hike along the world's longest continuous footpath—The Appalachian Trail. The 2,000-plus-mile trail winds through 14 states, stretching along the east coast of the United States, from Georgia to Maine. It snakes through some of the wildest and most spectacular landscapes in North America, as well as through some of its most poverty-stricken and primitive backwoods areas. With his offbeat sensibility, his eye for the absurd, and his laugh-out-loud sense of humour, Bryson recounts his confrontations with nature at its most uncompromising over his five-month journey. An instant classic, riotously funny, A Walk in the Woods will add a whole new audience to the legions of Bill Bryson fans.




Angel Coming


Book Description

Mama says we must be ready, ready for that angel coming. High in the hills of Kentucky, a little girl eagerly awaits the arrival of a very special visitor -- an "angel" who, she is told, will come riding up the mountain on horseback, carrying a baby sister or brother in her saddlebag. Li'l sis is what I'm wanting. Li'l sis is what I'll call her. I'll braid her hair right pretty, brush it out most every night. But the "angel" is not exactly what the young narrator imagined, and neither is the precious bundle that comes when she least expects it. This gem of a story highlights a little-known piece of American history: the Frontier Nursing Service, a pioneering group of women who came to be called "angels on horseback."




Appalachia


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