"A Song To Kill For" by Billy Edd Wheeler

"A Song To Kill For" is Billy Edd Wheeler's only novel. Wheeler is best known as a songwriter and playwright in addition to also having done some performing in the field of country music, having been a popular after dinner speaker for many years. This novel was self-published under the label Infinity Publishing which is virtually non-existent on the internet. They have been defunct since October 2023. I purchased this copy from Amazon and it was publication on demand. I'm not certain if Infinity which had been primarily a children's book publisher was an imprint of Amazon, or if it might have been owned by Wheeler and later sold to Amazon. While this is a self-published novel,Wheeler has a lenghty history as a playwright having written at least nine plays, several of which were produced for quite a few years as outdoor dramas around the southeastern US and Midwest. Wheeler also wrote several songs which were major hits as performed by others. Those songs include "Jackson" which was a signature duet for Johnny Cash and June Carter; "The Reverend Mister Black" which was a hit for the Kingston Trio;"Coward Of The County" which was a massive hit for Kenny Rogers; and, "Coal Tattoo" which has been recoreded by numerous artists with history in the Appalachian Coalfields including Kathy Mattea, The Kingston Trio, and Jim Croce. His well received plays include ""Hatfields and McCoys", "Young Abe Lincoln", and "Johnny Appleseed". It shouldn't surprise anyone to know that his greatest impact as a writer came in the area of playwriting since he held a masters degree in playwriting from Yale University in addition to his bachelors degree from Berea COllege. This book is worth reading even though it is not a great novel. It is funny, fairly well plotted, and has some well developed characters including the protagonist Gabriel Leatherwood who seems to, at least in part, to have been an alter ego of Wheeler himself. Leatherwood is a native West Virginian who is a musician and songwriter who traveld to Nashville only to have several of his early songs stolen by the lead villian who is the owner of music publishing company. Leatherwood decides to take on the company and its owner along with a sizeable cast of lesser villians who assist in his crimes including murder. Along the way, Leatherwood is lucky enough to fall in love with a beautiful female attorney, get invited to the White House to perform, and survive a rather graphic attempted murder by one of those villians. In the end, he marries the heroine, saves his songs, becomes rather wealthy, and chooses to return to Appalachian West Virginia with the woman of his dreams. I repeat, the book is worth reading especially if you are a musician of the country persuasion, an Appalachian, a writer,or if you enjoy crime stories and mysteries. It is not a great novel or a perfect novel. But it is worthy attempt at a first novel by a gifted writer in other areas of the arts.

"Appalachian Folk Tales" Compiled and Edited By Loyal Jones

Loyal Jones was one of the small handful of individuals who created the field of Appalachian Studies during his lifetime. There were perhaps no aspects of Appalachian Culture which Loyal Jones could not disucss cogently and clearly on a moment's notice. But Appalachian Folk Tales was an area about which he produced only a small amount of writing despite being a well known public speaker on both Appalachian Folk Tales and Appalachian Humor. He also cowrote several books on Appalachian Humor with song writer and playwright Billy Edd Wheeler. But this little book of a mere 117 pages constitutes the majority of his work on the title topic. "Appalachian Folk Tales" was published by the Jesse Stuart Foundation in 2020 only three years before his death at 95. The book was marketed as an introductory text on the subject for grade school aged children to "...delight and inform the children of today". The roughly three page "Note To Parents And Teachers" which serves as an introduction or foreword to the book was dated by Loyal Jones as having been written in 2010. The book contains a total of twelve Appalachian Folk Tales as told by several of the prominent experts over the last half century or so. Two of the stories have Loyal Jones listed as their author although the tale "Mutsmeg" is described in his introduction to it as having been publicly told by at least four other leading experts on Appalachian Folk Tales including Cratis Williams and Leonard Roberts who were two of the most skilled in the genre. Loyal Jones' introduction to "Jack Goes a-Hunting" describes it as having been either told or written in both "...Old World and American folk tale collections". Every tale in this little book is worth hearing and remembering. Each of them is a shining example of the folk tales which have been told and passed down from generation to generation in Appalachia ever since Old World settlers first came to this country. This book can serve as an introduction to Appalachian Folk Tales for anyone interested in the subject at any age. It is a great place to start if you know little about the topic and want the base of your knowledge to be well grounded from the beginning. Enjoy it!

Loyal Jones Photograph Above Copyrighted by Roger D. Hicks

"Getting The Spirit" by Vernon Abner, Thoughts About An Interesting Little Book

The author "Getting The Sprit", Vernon Abner was a former US Navy sailor who was born in 1937 presumably in Jackson County Kentucky where he spent most of his life. After leaving the US Navy, he entered Berea College in Berea, Kentucky, as a nontraditional student at the age of about 36. During his time at Berea, he took at least one class from my friend Bill Best whose work I have written about several times on this blog. During his career at Berea, Bill Best encouraged many hopeful Appalachian writers and Vernon Abner was one of those. Bill Best actually wrote the preface to this book which was the only published work, to my knowledge, by Vernon Abner. This book was illustrated by Jon Howson with wonderful black and white drawings including the cover which is a portrait of Vernon Abner. Bill Best concluded his preface with these words: "The other students remember him as being "real", as someone who "understood his own life. He helped create in them a desire to understand their own lives more deeply. Those who take seriously this collection of his story will understand." In an essay on the back cover of the book, Carl and Sally Glover wrote "As you read this collection, we hope you celebrate Vernon Abner's humor and wit, feel his sorrow and depression, and share in his love and appreciation for all living beings. We trust that your venture into Vernon Abner's world will reward you for your time and effort." I am unable at this time to verify my belief that the Glovers were the owners of Kentucke Imprints which was the publisher of this book and is now defunct. "Getting The Spirit" was published in 1985, just 4 years before Vernon Abner's death. It is my understanding that this book was his only published work. The book is broken into three sections: Fiction, Poetry, and Philosophy. The Fiction section is composed of six short stories which are clearly Appalachian in nature. They are replete with examples of Appalachian aphorisms, cultural qualities, and demonstrate a writer who clearly knew the lifestyle of Appalachians quite intimately and effectively. I cannot say that these are great short stories. But I must insist that I enjoyed them a great deal and would gladly defend them as good examples of short fiction based on Appalachian mores and cultural values. They are at time riotously funny. They contain two central figures, teenage males and neighbors who love to play practical jokes on those around them. The title story is about the boys decision to place a hornet nest under the floor boards of a home where a local preacher is holding a service with the entire neighborhood in attendance with the nest situated in such a way that the hornets are able to invade the church service. Without using direct quotations from the story, rest assured that it is quite funny. For those of you with little direct experience in the Appalachia of the period in which Vernon Abner grew up in the 1940's and 1950's, such home based church services were common and I have attended many in my own childhood. This story is a fine reminescence of life in an Appalachia which is now almost entirely lost. The third story, "Did The Fleas Get To College?" is a rendition of another practical joke which is played on a visiting nurse who travels by horseback. It involves the use of a large number of aggressive fleas which the boys have managed to capture from some hogs which one of their fathers has bought and brought home. It is not quite as funny as "Getting The Spirit" but it is well worth reading. The other stories in the book are not at the same level of writing and humor as the two I have discussed but collectively the group of stories in the book make we wish that Vernon Abner had lived long enough to polish his demonstrated talent, produce more and larger books, and become the writer which his potential could have produced. The Poetry section is composed of three poems which are not at the same level of work as the short stories. The final section of the book, labled Philosophy, contains nineteen short essays of about a page each, perhaps averaging 500 to 750 words each. They discuss a variety of common subjects from everyday life in an interesting, but less than perfect, manner. It is regretable that Vernon Abner had not been able to produce a more lengthy book composed entirely of his short stories. He had obviously been compelled to live a life which required time in the US Navy before his college days, the need to earn his daily bread after arriving at adulthood in one of the more poverty stricken counties in all of Appalachia. Like many native Appalachians, he was born with a sizeable amount of talent and intelligence, a prodigous sense of humor, and a desire to share his world with the greagt world outside. It is a shame that life is sometimes not exactly fair.

A Wonderful, Early, Unintended Political Birthday Present!

 

Yesterday, July 19, 2023, we spent most of the day in the general area of Morehead, Kentucky, and got home late, about 5pm after I had hiked for an hour and ten minutes at the Minor E. Clark Fish Hatchery which sits just below the spillway of Cave Run Lake; then we went to Wal Mart and Kroger to stock up on groceries, etc. I had already had a good day for several reasons.  I had spent time with my wife, Candice, and I had hiked to the hatchery from the spillway area in the company of the man who supervises the transportation of the fish they raise there to about half the state of Kentucky.  We had a good talk and hike on his way to work and my way to hike.  He answered several of my perpetual questions about the operations of the hatchery including telling me that they raise a lot of gold fish to feed the muskellunge they breed for stocking lakes.  I had previously seen goldfish in some concrete holding tanks on the property but had never understood exactly why they had them there.  I had thought that since they are a form of carp they might have been keeping them to help keep tanks clean.  But actually, they are just another version of the fattening hog for the muskellunge.  Then I hiked on around several of the 84 growing ponds the hatchery uses to finish the fish they produce.  I saw a lot of bird during that time which I don't always see there because I am hiking constantly and not paying attention to the tree lines and sometimes flush birds before I can clearly identify them.   I saw a flock of about 24 Canada Geese, about 18 American Crows, 6 Killdeer which are actually one of my favorite birds, and I was able to identify my first Green Heron.  

Then when I got home, I found a small envelope in my mail box with the return address of Betty Lynn on it which I had known was coming in some form or other since Betty had told me on Facebook that she was sending me something she had found in her large collection of memorabilia from a long career at Berea College where she worked as a secretary for many years.  I opened the envelope and quickly realized that Betty knows me well and had chosen to give me a perfect birthday gift. It was a single sheet of aged, yellowed, frazzled paper with a poem written on it in blue mimeograph ink and the letterhead of Berea College on the other side.  It is a rhyming poem of 7 stanza each composed of 2 rhyming couplets by an unknown author who was most likely an employee of Berea College in the 1950's when it was written.  I will include it at the bottom of this blog post but let me say in advance it if funny and well located at this time in American History because it puts our current political problems in a good perspective and shows us that while the Republican party never had the best intentions in mind for the majority of our citizens they were surely not the absolute criminals in 1952 that they are today.  The man who is the primary topic of this poem was definitely not anywhere near the level of pond scum that TRAITOR Trump is and always has been.  

 

 

Here is the poem in its entirety: 

THE REPUBLICANS

The Republican's seed sprouted and grew, 

In the simple minds of quite a few.

Some are nuts about whom they like

And made up their minds to vote for Ike. 

They've promised a lot and they'll promise more

Let's look and see what they did before.

Twenty years have passed, and yet,

Those Hoover Days I'll  never forget.

When Hoover was in I lived on the farm.

A dollar bill looked as long as my arm.

I never saw a ten dollar bill, 

And, if Ike is elected, I doubt if I will.

When Hoover was in, things were really tight. 

The rabbits were scarce and the fish wouldn't bite.

The men too ragged to go anywhere,

And the women wore flour sack underwear.

Remember me when you cast your vote.

If you vote for Ike, you'll cut your throat.

Would you rather have a life of ease

Or water gravy and black-eyed peas?

Since nineteen hundred and thirty-two

The Republican party has been in a stew.

They've called the Democrats nasty names, 

But the banks stay open just the same.

If Ike is elected, I'll move to the farm.

I'll plant some taters behind the barn; 

I'll steal my neighbor's roasting ears, 

I'll try to get by for four more years.

Author Unknown, Berea College, 1952

While this might not be great poetry, it is above average political doggerel and it points out the very clear differences between the Republican Party of President Dwight D. Eisenhower and the Right Wing Radical Repugnican Party of TREASON, hatred, criminality, and disgust it has become since 1952.  While Eisenhower was not anywhere near the best, or even one of the best, presidents we ever had, he was a patriot, was a major player in winning World War II and was elected twice.  His most important achievement was beginning what became the interstate highway system which he envisioned while fighting across Europe against Adolf Hitler.  No, Eisenhower was not perfect.  But he was also not perfectly imperfect as TRAITOR Trump proves on a daily basis that he is.  While the country did not prosper as it should have during the administration of Eisenhower, it was never in mortal peril as it has been every day since TRAITOR Trump listened to his Russian master Vladimir Putin and consented to be the TREASONOUS beneficiary of as stolen US election.  While Eisenhower accomplished little in the White House other than the interstate highway system's birth, he never engaged in the kind of crime spree his vice president Richard Nixon did you just a few short years later. Dwight D. Eisenhower was a man of honor, a general of great military achievements, a man who could have been trusted to be in a room alone with a teenage girl.  TRAITOR Trump can not point to any actual achievements other than having become the greatest TRAITOR in the history of the world. America must realize that there is some truth in the little poem above.  But the most valuable thing in that poem is a chance to compare the last decent Republican in America to the worst TRAITOR in the history of the world, TRAITOR Trump.  We must learn from the comparison and we must send that TRAITOR to federal prison for his crimes against America, the American people, and the world.  

"My Curious and Jocular Heroes: Tales and Tale-Spinners from Appalachia" by Loyal Jones--Book Review

 

For many years, Loyal Jones has been the dean of Appalachian scholars and is one of the founding fathers of the field of Appalachian Studies.  But like most other people who earn a preeminent position in any field, he also had mentors, teachers, professors, and a wide collection of others who helped shape him into the scholar and writer he is.  Loyal Jones is now fully retired at age 93 after a long career as a professor, writer, and creator of the Loyal Jones Appalachian Center at Berea College.  I have been influenced greatly by Loyal Jones and his work and have written about him extensively on this blog.  He wrote at least two of the most important books in the field of Appalachian Studies, "Appalachian Values" and "Faith and Meaning in the Southern Uplands".  He also wrote several books of Appalachian humor with his co-author, Billy Edd Wheeler, who is sometimes better known as a song writer. 

This book, which was published in 2017 by The University of Illiniois Press may well be Loyal Jones' last book since he is now 93 and no longer living in Berea, Kentucky, near the college where he spent his academic career.  This book pays homage, both in biographical essays and the inclusion of selected works, to four of his professional heroes, three of whom he knew personally: Cratis D. Williams; Bascom Lamar Lunsford; Leonard Roberts; and Josiah H. Combs.  These men were all experts in the field of Appalachian Folk Music and Appalachian Humor which includes the world famous Jack Tales.  The book, as mentioned above, is composed of biographical chapters about each man and an immediately following section of folk songs, folk tales, or jokes each man is credited with documenting and publishing in their work.  This book is a wonderful assessment of the lives and academic careers of each of these men and a tribute to the extensive work they performed in collecting these songs, stories, jokes, and riddles which have been passed from person to person in an oral tradition which predates the English settlements in the Tidewater region.  Each of these men were also well educated and worked professionally but the book also makes apparent that each of them was most likely happiest when he was sitting in a hickory bottom chair on a porch in some isolated hollow in Appalachia listening to songs and stories being told by a local resident who often had no formal education but had spent their lives hearing, remembering, and retelling these stories, singing these ancient folk songs, and passing them on once again so they would be preserved in the record over time.  

Josiah H. Combs was the first graduate of the Hindman Settlement School and obtained a doctorate from the Sorbonne in Paris.  He worked as a professor of languages in several major universities and published several collections of these stories and songs in his lifetime.  Cratis D. Williams rose from a one-room school in Lawrence County Kentucky to become the dean of the graduate school at Appalachian State University and wrote a master piece doctoral dissertation about the literature of Appalachia.  He was also, like Loyal Jones, one of the founding fathers of the field of Appalachian Studies.  Bascom Lamar Lunsford was both a collector of these historic tales and songs and a performer as well.  He also happened to be an attorney and founder of the eponymous folk festival which still exists today at Mars Hill University in Mars Hill, North Carolina.  

Leonard Roberts grew up in Pike and Floyd Counties in Eastern Kentucky and was a multi-instrumental performer and college professor at both Berea and the University of Pikeville.  He is known as one of the greatest collectors of Appalachian folk songs and folk tales. He founded the University of Pikeville Press which published some of his work.  His two best known books, "Up Cutshin and Down Greasy" and "Sang Branch Settlers", are both required reading for anyone who wants to learn about Appalachian folk tales and folk songs.  He died far too young in a wreck with a coal truck near his home in Betsy Layne, Kentucky.  

Loyal Jones did a masterful and loving job of writing about the lives of each of these men whom he refers to as "my curious and jocular heroes" in the title of the book. He explains in the book his use of the multi-definitional word "curious" to describe these men.  Curious can mean both inquisitive, inquiring, and odd or strange.  Each of these men fits that definition in the most positive manner.  They were odd in that they chose to spend their lives collecting, recording, and passing on these stories and tales which most of their neighbors never bothered to remember.  And each of them was deeply curious about their native world in Appalachia and wanted to learn all they could about it in order to preserve and propagate that knowledge.  If you love Appalachia and Appalachian Studies, you need to come to know these five wonderful men with Loyal Jones included as their equal and biographer.  If you love a good folk tale, often leaning to the ribald, you will love these men and this book.  Read it and enjoy it, and learn some of these songs and stories to pass on along your way. 

"Getting The Spirit And Other Writings" by Vernon Abner--Book Review

I located this book on a used book website after being advised of its existence by my friend, Bill Best, who taught the author, Vernon Abner, when he was a non-traditional student at Berea College after having grown up in Jackson County Kentucky and spending time in the US Navy. Bill Best also wrote the Preface to the book and is listed as the photographer although the book is illustrated with drawings by Jon Howson.  The book was published by Kentucke Imprints in Berea, Kentucky, a small privately owned publisher which went defunct upon the death of the owner.  The book is small but well worth locating and reading a copy.  It is divided into three sections labeled Fiction, Poetry, and Philosophy.  The fiction section is composed of six pieces of writing, four of which are clearly short stories and two others which teter somewhere between clearing being fiction and possibly being essays.  The true short stories are the best writing in the book and, in and of themselves, make the book worth reading.  Two of the stories, "Getting The Spirit" and "Did The Fleas Get To College?" feature a pair of teenage pals in early to middle twentieth century Appalachia who love a good practical joke and are masters at playing those jokes on others.  There are moments in both these stories which are laugh out loud hilarious.  After reading these stories, I felt I knew the author pretty well.  He was born in 1937, about 14 years before me; but, we grew up in the same sort of situations in many ways in rural Eastern Kentucky and it seems that we had the same kind of sense of humor.  Both these stories involve the boys efforts to inflict vermin on others who can be said to have been somewhat of authority figures over the boys.  That is all I want to say about these stories because I don't want to ruin your fun if you locate a copy of the book.  They will have you rolling in the floor just as does the father of one of the boys in the title piece.  

The Poetry section is composed of three poems which are readable but not above average.  These poems and the entire third section, Philosophy, clearly show that it would have been a wonderful thing if Vernon Abner had been able to attend college directly out of high school and been exposed to a handful of good instructors of literature and writing.  Vernon was a highly intelligent, humorous, and caring man who wrote well but his lack of extensive writing experience weakens his work in a manner that would have been eliminated if he had benefited from strong writing instructors in his teens and twenties.  Sadly, he also died at only 52 and is buried in his native Jackson County.  His memorial on Find A Grave contains an epitaph I have never seen on a tombstone before.  It reads simply "It Is Unexplainable".  As a regular Find A Grave volunteer contributor, I have entered more than 3,000 memorial on the website, contributed more than 600 photographs of memorials to it, and I have walked through cemeteries in more than 25 states ranging from Pennsylvania to Arizona and Wisconsin to Florida and I have never seen that particular epitaph on a tombstone before.  I would love to know the story behind it.  The Philosophy section of the book is composed of 19 short essays on a wide ranging set of topic.  They are all worth reading; sometimes funny, but never as funny as the short stories; thoughtful; erudite; and many of them make it apparent that the author's knowledge was attained in an old fashioned manner which valued experience far more than education.  

If you can ever locate a copy of this book, buy it, read it, preserve it, and pass it on to someone or some institution which will preserve it for future readers and researchers.  I have worked in the past for nearly three years in Jackson County Kentucky where Vernon Abner lived most of his life.  It is likely that I have met people who knew him but I was never aware of that.  I wish I had met Vernon Abner.  I know that we could have shared a laugh, a few stories, and maybe even a good supper of squirrels, gravy, fresh peas from the garden, good homemade cat head biscuits, and washed it all down with a glass of cold buttermilk before we started telling more stories and sharing a few belly laughs. 

"The Tragedy Of Platitudinous Piety" by Bill Best--Book Review

I have written previously about the work of Bill Best on this blog.  Bill is both  an internationally known expert on saving, propagating, and preserving heritage food crops and an Appalachian author of some note.  He managed to do all that while working as a swim coach and administrator at Berea College in Berea, Kentucky.  I first became aware of Bill and subsequently became friends with him when we both recently had true Christmas stories published in an anthology from the  Jesse Stuart Foundation.  I respect Bill and his work tremendously both for what he has previously accomplished in his highly productive life and for the work he continues to do today in a variety of ways including his work with heritage crops, the ongoing work he does in the field of Appalachian Studies, and his continued work on a part time, volunteer basis with Berea College.  

This little book was published in 1982 by Kentucke Imprints, a short lived publisher in Berea.  The book was reviewed in winter 1983 Volume 10, Number 2 of Appalachian Journal by Tijan M. Sallah.  It is also anthologized in Bill's book, "The Great Appalachian Sperm Bank and Other Writings" which was also published under the Kentucke Imprints label and might be easier to locate a copy of in that collection, which I will also discuss at length in this blog at some date in the future.  "The Tragedy Of Platitudinous Piety" is more appropriately a pamphlet since it is only one piece of satire of about fourteen pages.  If you attempt to locate a copy of the book, in either form, you will likely have better luck on used book websites such as Alibris or AbeBooks where I often locate such disappearing works.  But be aware that AbeBooks does not have the tight systems of response time and other aspects of quality control from their independent vendors which is more commonly adhered to on Alibris. 

Bill loves to write satire and this is one of his best.  My only objection to it (and this might be due to my own density at times) is that it can be a bit slow for the average reader to figure out the actual subject matter which (if my aforesaid density has not misled me) is the Jonestown Mass Suicide and cults of personality in general.  Platitudinous Piety is actually the main character in this little story and becomes enamored with a cult which leads to his eventual demise.  A great deal of Bill's thinking in the greater discussion of cults of personality can be contained and summarized in the final paragraph of the work.  That paragraph reads "I must say that, although I disagreed with Platy's philosophy, his activities, and his programs, I was very upset and saddened by his death.  He was truly a lonely, searching person, and none of us knew how to reach out to him in ways which he would understand."  Since this book was written about the Jonestown Mass Suicide, it is easy to pass it off as not being relevant in today's world.  But having come to know the author a bit more than superficially, I can assure that Bill Best would tell you that "The Tragedy Of Platitudinous Piety" has a very serious application in American politics today.  Nearly every person who falls victim to a cult of personality is "...truly a lonely, searching person..." and in most of those cases "...none of us (knows) how to reach out to.." them in ways which can salvage these people both from their own self-destructive tendencies and from those people like Jim Jones, Marshall Applewhite, and the TRAITOR Donald Trump who would use them, abuse them, and discard them when they are no longer useful or when their destruction will serve the cult leader's purposes more than their ongoing lives might. 

Since Jonestown, America has suffered from several other cults of personality and related mass suicides including the Heaven's Gate suicide of 39 people in California.  But the worst case of a cult of personality in America is ongoing today and involves the irrational, indefensible, and bizarre devotion of a few million people to the TRAITOR Trump.  He is far more dangerous than Jim Jones or Marshall Applewhite ever work and is wreaking havoc on the moral and political centers of American society while serving the needs of his Russian master Vladimir Putin.  But what the hell?  Why should I waste my time and energy continuing to warn America and the world about what is going on when no one seems to listen?

Read this little satire by Bill Best, or better still, go dig up a copy of "The Great Appalachian Sperm Bank and Other Writings by Bill Best and read several of his satires in one volume.  They are enlightening, informative and fun.  

"The Appalachian Renaissance at Berea College 1944-1994" by Bill Best--Book Review

For many years, Berea College in Berea, Kentucky, has been recognized as being at the forefront of  post secondary education in Appalachia.  But the story of Berea College and their efforts to educate and train leaders in, of, and for Appalachia has not always been without bumps along the road.  My friend Bill Best is both a Berea alumnus and a professor emeritus at Berea after having attended the college from 1954 to 1959 and having taught there from 1962 to 2002. Bill Best is also the author of two excellent books about saving, planting, and preserving heritage seeds.

During his time at Berea, Dr. Best served as an athletic coach, administrator, Director of Upward Bound, and in just about any other capacity in which the college asked him to serve.  He is still actively involved with the college and lives on his farm not far from  Berea.  No one was better qualified to write about Berea and the role it has played in the history of education in Appalachia.  The book is divided into three sections with an epilogue of a few pages.  The sections are labeled with Roman numerals and cover college history; the career of James Stephen Brown, a Berea alumnus and a person who was also deeply involved in the life and work of the college for many years; and a section of "Testimonials" from a large group composed primarily of other Berea alumni who have become successful in a variety of fields.  The book discusses the careers of the various presidents of the college over the fifty years the text addresses.  It also discussed honestly and openly a period of time when the college became more focused on changing Appalachia, Appalachians, and the culture of the region.  This period was eventually proven to be counterproductive to the goals of the college and was eventually changed to an effort which recognized the validity and importance of the deep seated and widely loved Appalachian Culture.  Naturally, my friend of the last few years, Loyal Jones, one of the most important figures in all of Appalachia and Appalachian Literature, played a large and irreplaceable role in that effort to cause Berea College to protect the culture of the region.  

The testimonial section is written by a sizeable group of figures who were important in the history of the college and the region.  Although I recognize the intentions of Bill Best in constructing the book in this manner, I also see this method of having others write a key section of the book is a double edged sword.  On the positive side, it clearly demonstrates how important Berea College has been both in the lives of these alumni and the region.  But is my personal opinion that the book could have been better served if the author had chosen to write this section personally based on his knowledge of these people and personal interviews with them.  But I do not make the statements in this paragraph with any intentions of denigrating the book or diminishing my respect for the book and the author.  I state it simply as a difference of opinion between two writers about writing style and arrangement of the work.  Each of the people whose lives are discussed in this section is an important figure in the life of Berea College and the region. I simply believe that an impartial third person assessment of these people and their work might have suited me better. And let me conclude this discussion with the strongly worded statement that I respect and appreciate the book, the author, and his writing.  This book is well worth your time to read.  If you are an Appalachian scholar, a Kentuckian, or an alumnus of Berea College, you will learn a great deal from this book.  Buy it!  Read it!  Enjoy it as I did!  And most of all, learn from it. 

"Kentucky Heirloom Seeds Growing, Eating, Saving" by Bill Best with Dobree Adams--Book Review

Best, Bill with Dobree Adams.  Kentucky Heirloom Seeds Growing, Eating, Saving. (Lexington, KY, University Press of Kentucky, 2017)

As I begin my response to this book, it is necessary for me to state a couple of very important disclaimers.  

1) What I know about collecting, saving, preserving, and protecting heirloom seeds, fruits, and vegetables would not fill a thimble. 

2) The author Bill Best is a new found friend of mine and I don't intend to damage that relationship if I can prevent it.  Therefore, I will try to limit too much exposure of the aforementioned ignorance.

3) I also have a newly established and budding friendship with Frank Barnett who is also a significant individual in this book.  Like Bill Best, Frank is a major figure in the Kentucky heritage seed field and I also have no intentions of allowing my ignorance to damage that relationship.  

Now let's talk honestly about this book.  I bought it because a man who is married to one of my cousins is retiring effective December 31, 2019, and he loves to garden, cook, can, freeze, keep bees, and produce his own food.  I had come to know Bill Best because he and I both have true Christmas stories in a fairly new book from the Jesse Stuart Foundation, "True Christmas Stories From The Heart Of Appalachia".  We had gotten in touch through Facebook and Bill informed me that Frank Barnett was already a reader of this blog.  I advised Bill that I was searching for a small sample of a few varieties of heritage seeds to include with this book as a retirement gift for this member of my extended family.  Bill put me in touch with Frank Barnett who mailed me a few seeds for the cost of the postage.  Frank and I had a subsequent telephone conversation which lasted close to an hour because we learned we had grown up not far apart in Floyd County for Frank and Knott County for me.  We also had similar interests in Appalachia, Appalachian Culture, and traveling the back roads in order to meet people, learn, and gain further knowledge about Appalachia.  

After I bought the book, I could not resist reading it before the retirement party for its intended owner.  I have devoured the book in a little over a week at a time when I have been heavily engrossed in writing several short stories over the past month, two of which have recently been selected for publication.  I was busy on other things but this book drew me in, held my interest, and taught me many things which I value knowing.  Bill Best is a professor emeritus at Berea College, one of the half dozen or so work colleges in America.  He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts and was actually a swimming coach for many years.  But he is also a native Appalachian from Western North Carolina who grew up working in a home garden with parents who valued and protected heritage crops.  He has spent his entire life doing the same thing and has been a co-founder of both the Berea and Lexington Farmer's Markets.  He is frequently and primarily referred to as a farmer, not Dr. Best, not Professor Best, not any of those intellectual names which many, if not most, people with a doctoral degree like to do.  He is a man of the soil, a man of the earth, a proud Appalachian who has worked to educate other Appalachians, to protect many aspects of the complex culture which exists in Appalachia, and to preserve as many of the early food crops in America as he possibly can.  To say the least, Bill Best is a complex man of many talents in many areas and this book proves it admirably.   

While I do not profess to be a farmer, I grew up on a small Appalachian farm in Knott County Kentucky where my parents also ran a family store.  My parents, grandparents, and most of my extended family raised, ate, and preserved nearly all our food during my childhood.  I grew up working a garden; helping kill hogs; preserving, or helping preserve, the foods we ate all year long; and knowing that home raised, killed, canned, frozen, preserved, and protected food is the best food on earth.  But I have not raised a garden in twenty years because of living both a complicated life and having a wife who has been in a wheelchair for those same twenty years.  My priorities have been elsewhere but I have missed gardening.  This book reminded me of my family, my youth, and the early years of my marriage when my wife and I did raise a small garden on our single acre of land.  Over the last few years, we have changed our eating habits and sought out local produce from several of our Mennonite friends who live their lives in most of the old ways.  We have eliminated most meat from our diet except for chicken and fish.  We eat a lot more vegetables and seek out organic foods whenever we can find them.  This book has shown me that I should be doing more in the area of heritage crops, organic foods, and home based food production.  

This is an excellent book written by a regional expert who has spent 84 years accumulating knowledge in many areas and doing every thing he can to expose others to that knowledge.  If I had more land, more time, and different priorities in my daily life, I would invest much more of my time to similar efforts.   So should every other citizen in America.  The rewards in better health and happiness would be well worth the effort.  This book is quite interesting, informative, and entertaining to read.  Bill Best discusses both his own work in the field and the work of more than a dozen others who are fully committed to preserving heritage crops.  He allowed several of those people to write up short accounts of their own experiences and included them in the book.  He also delivered his own accounts of numerous others he has known who are no longer alive or were unable to provide their own written accounts of their work.  He includes several letters he has received from people who have contributed to the field of heritage crops.  In all ways, this is a valuable book.  

As I have read this book, I have been reminded of those first twenty years of my life in a country store in one of the most truly Appalachian counties in the entire region, of the five years I spent as a door to door salesman in Southern West Virginia and Eastern Kentucky, and of the five years I spent running an auction house in Floyd County Kentucky.  I have no idea how many heritage crops I might have passed up during all those years for which I could easily have obtained seeds to assist in preserving those particular rare varieties of tomatoes, corn, beans, squashes, and other food crops.  I have spent many days in the head of hollows in Mingo, Logan, Boone, Lincoln, Wyoming, Wayne, and Raleigh Counties in West Virginia along with equal amounts of time in Floyd, Pike, Knott, Martin, Johnson, Morgan, Wolfe, Breathitt, Letcher, and Lawrence Counties in Kentucky.  I also spent time in the most Appalachian areas of East Tennessee and Western North Carolina when I was focused on other areas of Appalachian Culture.  All these areas in all four states are fully historically Appalachian both in cultural and geographical ways. During that time, if my focus had been slightly altered, I could have accomplished everything I have and also been productive in locating and preserving numerous unique varieties of food crops.  This book has taught me a lot about what I have missed.  It can do the same for you.  If you love to garden; to feel good, rich, black earth between your toes; to eat a warm, sun drenched tomato with a salt shaker standing in the garden where it was raised, this book is for you.  Buy it!  Read it!  Study it!  Work to put the priceless knowledge it contains to use and to pass that knowledge on to others, especially to others who are younger than you and able, by accident of birth, to preserve that knowledge for years after you and I are gone.  This is a very valuable book.  Bill Best is also the author of a very good book about the history of Berea College which covers a fifty year period when he was a student, professor, and administrator there. 

And purely by coincidence, I finished this book on the 84th birthday of the author, Bill Best!  Happy Birthday, Bill!