A History of Appalachia" Richard 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 regionÕs 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 regionÕs rural character. |
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agriculture Alabama American Revolution antislavery Appalachian Mountains Appalachian region Appalachian Regional Commission army backwoods Battle became Berea blacks British campaign centers Cherokee churches Civil coal Cohee colonies Company Confederacy Confederate corporate County Creek culture Democratic developed dominated early East Tennessee eastern Kentucky economic eighteenth century elite emerged England farm farmers feud forests French frontier fur trade Georgia German industry Iroquois James John Knoxville labor land leaders Lexington major migration miners mining modern mountain area North Carolina North Carolina Press northern Ohio Ohio River Pennsylvania political population Populist Poverty president Press of Kentucky programs railroad region’s Republican Party Ridge River rural scalawags scholars Scotch—Irish settlement Shenandoah Valley significant slavery slaves society South Southern Appalachian southern mountains stereotypes Tennessee Press Thomas thousand towns traditional Union United University of Tennessee University Press War on Poverty West Virginia western North Carolina William World writers yeoman yeomanesque York