Product Description

A narrative of adventure in the southern Appalachians and a study of life about the mountaineers. Horace Kephart is the man most responsible for the existence of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park spanning the North Carolina and Tennessee border. Using his numerous journals, he wrote of first-hand observations of the mountains and people during his 10 years of travels through the Appalachians. 6x9 trade paper, 548 pages. Includes foreword by Ralph Roberts.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #57687 in Books
• Published on: 2004-07-29
• Released on: 2004-07-29
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 548 pages

Customer Reviews

Should be required reading in every Appalachian school.
Kephart shows the Southern Appalachian Mountaineers as they were, and in some cases, still are. Warts and all. A fair, truthfull account of his experiences while living among us, as well as the historical background for the area. It should be remembered that the book was first published in 1913 and revised in 1922, and while it is not an accurate picture of the mountains of today, if you would understand Appalachia, read this book.

A delightful but not romanticized view
Kephart's engaging, entertaining style does a terrific job of bringing realism to a heavily stereotyped people; his approach is balanced, illustrating the people's good and not-so-good characteristics with anecdotes (some hilarious) and facts. He provides historical and topological frameworks for the character of mountain people. He lived a bare-bones existence among them for several years and so his narrative is richer--and truer--than that of a drop-in-ask-get-out historian's. The book provides a realistic basis for understanding people of today's mountains, where personal background is often still important.

Special
I love Appalachia history and would rate this as my favorite book on the subject. I hated to see the book end!