A History of AppalachiaRichard Drake has skillfully woven together the various strands of the Appalachian experience into a sweeping whole. Touching upon folk traditions, health care, the environment, higher education, the role of blacks and women, and much more, Drake offers a compelling social history of a unique American region. The Appalachian region, extending from Alabama in the South up to the Allegheny highlands of Pennsylvania, has historically been characterized by its largely rural populations, rich natural resources that have fueled industry in other parts of the country, and the strong and wild, undeveloped land. The rugged geography of the region allowed Native American societies, especially the Cherokee, to flourish. Early white settlers tended to favor a self-sufficient approach to farming, contrary to the land grabbing and plantation building going on elsewhere in the South. The growth of a market economy and competition from other agricultural areas of the country sparked an economic decline of the region's rural population at least as early as 1830. The Civil War and the sometimes hostile legislation of Reconstruction made life even more difficult for rural Appalachians. Recent history of the region is marked by the corporate exploitation of resources. Regional oil, gas, and coal had attracted some industry even before the Civil War, but the postwar years saw an immense expansion of American industry, nearly all of which relied heavily on Appalachian fossil fuels, particularly coal. What was initially a boon to the region eventually brought financial disaster to many mountain people as unsafe working conditions and strip mining ravaged the land and its inhabitants. A History of Appalachia also examines pockets of urbanization in Appalachia. Chemical, textile, and other industries have encouraged the development of urban areas. At the same time, radio, television, and the internet provide residents direct links to cultures from all over the world. The author looks at the process of urbanization as it belies commonly held notions about the region's rural character. |
From inside the book
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... Appalachia” vast non-mountain areas, including the Southern Piedmont. On the other hand, there are those who reserve as Appalachian only those areas of the Southern Appalachians that are “the real mountains.” In Horace Kephart's view ...
... mountain regions of the Appalachian South, however, yeoman-style agriculture has persisted rather remarkably until World War II and after. Another unusual Appalachian characteristic that will enlighten this narrative is the strong and ...
... Mountains. Finally the European-derived United States, largely with English institutions, extended its control over this mountainous area. 1 The Indian Era THE APPALACHIAN MOUNTAINS are located entirely Part The Contest for Appalachia.
Richard B. Drake. 1. The. Indian. Era. THE APPALACHIAN MOUNTAINS are located entirely within the temperate zone, from about 33 to 48 degrees north latitude. The significant climatic difference between the valley floors, some at less than ...
... mountains by 1600, but even the Cherokee carried on intermittent warfare with their northern cousins throughout most ... Appalachia sat in troubled domination—the Iroquois Confederation of the Five Nations to the north in Appalachian New ...