New Appalachian Books: Write-Ups

NEW APPALACHIAN BOOKS Write-Ups George Brosi Randy Allan. Lemuel Chenoweth, 1811-1887: Bridging the Gaps. Parsons, WV: McClain Printing Company, 2006. 166 pages with photographs. Trade paperback. $21.00. Allen considers his subject to be America's most accomplished builder of covered bridges during the years between 1846 and 1861. This biography places emphasis on the Civil War years, but starts with Chenoweth's genealogy and covers his entire life, which centered around Beverly, West Virginia, located in Randolph County. The book concludes with a chapter on various restoration efforts aimed at preserving his craftsmanship. Heidi M. Altaian. Eastern Cherokee Fishing. Tuscaloosa, AL: University of Alabama Press, 2006. 152 pages with photographs, charts, endnotes, index and bibliography. Trade paperback. $22.95. This is not a hands-on kind of book—don't look here for hints on how to avoid the game warden. Dynamite isn't even in the index. Instead, it presents a more scholarly overview of the role of fishing in Cherokee life, right up to its present-day status as a tourist attraction. Nancy Grisham Anderson, editor. Wrestling with God: The Meditations of Richard Marius. Knoxville: The University of Tennessee Press, 2006. 140 pages. Hardback in dust jacket. $30.00. Richard Marius (1933-1999) grew up the son of a Methodist minister at Dixie Lee Junction in Loudon County, Tennessee. He went on to first become a history professor and then the Director of Expository Writing at Harvard. Marius wrote several books including four novels set in rural East Tennessee and two very successful historical biographies, Thomas More and Martin Luther. This book is a collection of 23 sermons or meditations he delivered, which span the entire second half of the twentieth century. B. J. Appelgren. The Transparent Feather. Charles Town, WV: Zillah, Inc., 2006. 272 pages. Trade paperback. $14.95. 98 This book is cataloged under "1. Personal growth, spirituality. 2. Death, dying. 3. Writing. 4. Morgan, Berry," and it actually does belong in all four categories. The author, an aspiring writer, made a deal with Berry Morgan, a distinguished novelist living in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia, that she would write down Morgan's memoirs in exchange for writing lessons. This book covers not only their meetings but also Morgan's memorial sévices. Darnell Arnoult. Sufficient Grace. New York: Free Press, 2006. 302 pages. Trade paperback. $23.00. DarnellArnoultburst onto the regional literary stage this year when her firstbook, a poetry collection, What Travels With Us, became the first book of poetry to garner a Weatherford Award from the Appalachian Studies Association. Recently, it was named the book of the year in poetry by the Southeastern Independent Booksellers Association. Her first novel is equally compelling, featuring an enjoyable cast ofworking class mountaineers. Among the pleasant innovations that Arnoult has incorporated is her attention to what her characters cook. Arnoult grew up near the Virginia/North Carolina line on the eastern slope of the Blue Ridge, which provides the primary setting for this novel as well. Bob Henry Baber. The SwamperFile. Huntington, WV: Mid-Atlantic Highlands, 2006. 287 pages. Trade paperback. $14.95. Bob Henry Baber, the mayor of Richwood, West Virginia, took a quite circuitous route to that exalted office. Bear in mind, of course, that this novel is fiction, notautobiography, butthe story, setin 1971, follows the protagonist from a Los Angeles love-in back to West Virginia. Ann Good Cooper. The Angel ofHappy Hollow: The Story ofMary Elizabeth "Toddy" Collins. Boone, NC: Parkway Publishers, 2006. 476 pages with photographs and tributes. Hardback. $29.95. I cannot imagine a higher station inlife than to achieve the sobriquet of "Angel of Happy Hollow," for what higher calling is there than "angel" and what more delightful home than "Happy Hollow?" This book is the story of a missionary to a little Wise County, Virginia, coal camp, Roda. Fred First. Slow Road Home: A Blue Ridge Book of Days. Check, VA: Goose Creek Press, 2006. 216 Pages with photographs. Trade paperback. $15.95. 99 Bisected by the Blue Ridge Parkway and blessed with many family businesses and a few chains, Floyd County, Virginia, south of Roanoke, charms with a pleasant mix of old-timers and...