This collection is the first comprehensive, cohesive volume to unite Appalachian history with its culture. Richard A. Straw and H. Tyler Blethen's High Mountains Rising provides a clear, systematic, and engaging overview of the Appalachian timeline, its people, and the most significant aspects of life in the region.

The first half of the fourteen essays deal with historical issues including Native Americans, pioneer settlement, slavery, the Civil War and Reconstruction, industrialization, the Great Depression, migration, and finally, modernization. The remaining essays take a more cultural focus, addressing stereotypes, music, folklife, language, literature, and religion.

Bringing together many of the most prestigious scholars in Appalachian studies, this volume has been designed for general and classroom use, and includes suggestions for further reading.

Richard A. Straw is professor of history at Radford University, the author of Images of America: Blacksburg, and has published articles on Appalachian foodways, on Mike Seeger, and on the United Mine Workers of America, coal mining, and historical photography. H. Tyler Blethen is Creighton Sossomon Professor of History and director of the Mountain Heritage Center at Western Carolina University, and a coeditor of Ulster and North America: Transatlantic Perspectives on the Scotch-Irish.

Acknowledgments   vi

Introduction   1   Richard A. Straw
1. Native Americans   7   C. Clifford Boyd Jr.
2. Pioneer Settlement   17   H. Tyler Blethen
3. Slavery and African Americans in the Nineteenth Century   30   John C. Inscoe
4. The Civil War and Reconstruction   46   Gordon B. McKinney
5. Industrialization   59   Ronald L. Lewis
6. The Great Depression   74   Paul Salstrom
7. Migration   88   Phillip J. Obermiller
8. Stereotypes   101   David C. Hsiung
9. Music   114   Bill C. Malone
10. Folklife   135   Michael Ann Williams
11. English Language   147   Michael Montgomery
12. Literature   165   Ted Olson
13. Religion   179   Deborah Vansau McCauley
14. Modernization, 1940-2000   197   Ronald D Eller

Suggested Readings   221
Contributors   231
Index   235