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Appalachians All intertwines the histories of three communities—Knoxville with its urban life, Cades Cove with its farming, logging, and tourism legacies, and the Clearfork Valley with its coal production—to tell a larger story of East Tennessee and its inhabitants. Combining a perceptive account of how industrialization shaped developments in these communities since the Civil War with a heartfelt reflection on Appalachian identity, Mark Banker provides a significant new regional history with implications that extend well beyond East Tennessee’s boundaries. Writing with the keen eye of a native son who left the area only to return years later, Banker uses elements of his own autobiography to underscore the ways in which East Tennesseans, particularly “successful” urban dwellers, often distance themselves from an Appalachian identity. This understandable albeit regrettable response, Banker suggests, diminishes and demeans both the individual and region, making stereotypically “Appalachian” conditions self-perpetuating. Whether exploring grassroots activism in the Clearfork Valley, the agrarian traditions and subsequent displacement of Cades Cove residents, or Knoxvillians’ efforts to promote trade, tourism, and industry, Banker’s detailed historical excursions reveal not only a profound richness and complexity in the East Tennessee experience but also a profound interconnectedness. Synthesizing the extensive research and revisionist interpretations of Appalachia that have emerged over the last thirty years, Banker offers a new lens for constructively viewing East Tennessee and its past. He challenges readers to reconsider ideas that have long diminished the region and to re-imagine Appalachia. And ultimately, while Appalachians All speaks most directly to East Tennesseans and other Appalachian residents, it also carries important lessons for any reader seeking to understand the crucial connections between history, self, and place.

Table of Contents

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  1. Cover
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  1. Frontmatter
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  1. Contents
  2. p. vii
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  1. Preface
  2. pp. xi-xii
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  1. Acknowledgments
  2. pp. xv-xix
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  1. Prologue: East Tennessee Insights into Elusive Appalachia
  2. pp. 1-15
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  1. Part I - Before There Was an Appalachia, 1750–1880
  2. pp. 17-23
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  1. 1. East Tennessee Beginnings: Cherokee and Pioneer Legacies and the Births of Three Representative Communities
  2. pp. 25-47
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  1. 2. Mid-Nineteenth-Century Crises: From Mainstream to Margin in East Tennessee
  2. pp. 49-72
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  1. Part II - Appalachia Discovered: Insights from East Tennessee, 1870–1930
  2. pp. 73-82
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  1. 3. Queen City of the Mountains: Knoxville and the Vision of a New South
  2. pp. 83-108
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  1. 4. New South Realities: East Tennessee’s Hinterlands as Resource Producer for Industrial America
  2. pp. 109-132
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  1. 5. Appalachia on Their Minds: East Tennesseans and the Discovery of an American Region, 1875–1925
  2. pp. 133-159
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  1. Part III - Appalachia, East Tennessee, and Modern America, 1920–2006
  2. pp. 161-170
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  1. 6. East Tennessee from Bad Times to Good Times (for Some), 1920–1965
  2. pp. 171-192
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  1. 7. Appalachia (Slowly) Awakens: A Regional Overview, 1920–1975
  2. pp. 193-204
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  1. 8. Coming Home to a New Appalachia: The Awakening in East Tennessee’s Hinterlands, 1970–Present
  2. pp. 205-221
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  1. 9. The Awakening in East Tennessee’s Leading City and an Ongoing Homecoming, 1970–Present
  2. pp. 223-246
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  1. Epilogue: Reimagining Appalachia and Ourselves
  2. pp. 247-255
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  1. Notes on Sources
  2. pp. 257-301
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  1. Bibliography
  2. pp. 303-318
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  1. Index
  2. pp. 319-328
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