Book Description

This book, published in commemoration of Tennessee's two hundred years of statehood, brings together two hundred stories about the influential figures, both the famous and the not so famous, who have marched across the state's history. This project began in 1986 when then-Governor Lamar Alexander asked Alex Haley, the celebrated author of Roots, to produce a special volume for the state bicentennial at the University of Tennessee. Although Haley died while the work was in progress, the now completed book reflects his love of the human-interest story as an effective way of capturing the drama and wonder of history. Ranging from the frontier era through the late twentieth century and covering all parts of the state, 200 Years through 200 Stories brings to life a host of colorful figures: Nancy Ward (Nan-ye-i), the "Beloved Woman of the Cherokee" who sought to promote harmony between her people and the early white settlers; Davy Crockett, the legendary frontiersman and political hero; Confederate Captain Spencer Talley, a participant in the bloody fighting at Stones River; Hanson Caruthers, a black slave who donned the Union blue and fought for his freedom; Estes Kefauver, the maverick U.S. senator who took on corporations, organized crime, and even President Truman; and Alex Stewart, a master Appalachian craftsman whose marvelous skills won him the Heritage Fellowship Award from the National Endowment for the Arts. Their stories and those of the many others who fill this volume enable the reader to grasp the larger historical developments -- settlement and statehood, Civil War and Reconstruction, the rise of industry and technology -- that have shaped Tennessee's history and the livesof its people. In addition to the two hundred stories focusing on individuals, the book includes several overview essays that summarize pivotal events during the key phases of the state's history. The result is a book that will delight anyone who loves Tennessee and its rich and varied heritage.