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Appalachia: A Meditation by Albert J. Fritsch. Photographs by Warren Brunner. Chicago: Loyola University Press, 1906. 166 pages, paperback, $7.95. This gentle and thoughtful work with texts by Albert Fritsch, S. J., and photographs by Warren Brunner is worthy of its title, Appalachia: A Meditation. Blending scripture, short meditative paragraphs, and photographs, Fritsch and Brunner have captured the haunting beauty and spirit of the region and its people in a creative and spiritual way. The reader is encouraged to interact with companions and surroundings in a manner unusual to the hustle and bustle of everyday life. The call to "come and see" is apparent throughout and is helpful to natives and outlanders alike in its appeal to seek out the spiritual substance that undergirds our everyday existence. The success of the book is in this appeal to the familiar and common facets of our life rather than the more glamorous and gaudy headlines of the newspapers and television. Though this book is not glossy or pretentious, there are some minor problems. The most obvious regard those photographs running into the gutters of the binding and onto the opposite page. It would have done no violence to the images had they been cropped and made consistent with the other photographs that are confined to one page. Another concern is the unevenness of the meditations themselves which sometimes struggle for profundity or say good things in an awkward way. However, it is difficult to be consistently profound on every page and, like preachers, the authors are not always as illuminating as they would like to be. In conclusion, Appalachia: A Meditation accomplishes a good deal in allowing the reader to grow thoughtfully and spiritually by using the simple beauties of a familiar environment and one's companions. Doubtless many who appreciate the spiritual heritage of the Appalachian region will enjoy this modest and useful work. —Shannon Wilson 91 ...

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