A New Dawn in Appalachia: Life and Legends of the Southern Mountains

"...A BIG 'FALLING DOWN COCONUT CAKE' OF WIT AND SOUTHERN COLLOQUIAL THAT UNTIL NOW, SEEMED TO BE "Gone with the Wind."-Mike Riles . Retired "Atlanta Constitution" and "Baltimore Sun" newspaper man Hunter James presents a collection of essays about the southern mountains that is filled with wit, humor and southern colloquialism. "Celebrities, fascinating unknowns, the mountains and foothills of Western North Carolina, Hunter James brings them alive." From the mysterious Brown Mountain lights, marijuana busts, mountain music, old-style tent revivals to tobacco auctioneers, white trash cooking, southern Appalachian politics and saving the New River, Hunter James covers all of it and a whole bunch more. "Hunter James has the unique ability to not only introduce you to his real characters but to give you the sense you really know them...When you finish this book you will feel you know those persons to whom you have been introduced."-David Poynor, retired newspaper man and journalist. "Raw, powerful, and intriguing! Celebrities, fascinating unknowns, the mountains and foothills of Western North Carolina, Hunter James brings them alive. Highly skilled interviewer. Masterful writer, Tops at letting people talk. He puts you there with his striking and beautiful word pictures. Reminiscent of Faulkner, but shorter sentences, thank god!"-William C. Nichols, psychologist, author, editor (allegedly retired. "... a must-read for anyone interested in finding out what life in the Blue Ridge is really like.... The reader will also find plenty of material about mountain politics, literature, marijuana hunts and how not to get eaten by bears. Yes, and much more besides."-Gene Laughter - Glen Allen, Virginia. "... one of the best books I've read on the culture, traditional and contemporary [life] of the Southern Appalachians." Fred Hobson, Lineberger Distinguished Professor of Humanities.