New Appalachian Books

New Appalachian Books by George Brosi* Barker, Garry. Mountain Passage and Other Stories. 250 pages. Berea, Kentucky: Kentucke Imprints, 1986. Trade paperback. $9.95. Three of the stories in this, the author's second short story collection, won prizes. Barker was born in 1943, the third child in a family of nine raised in Fleming County, Kentucky, in the northeastern part of the state. He has lived in Berea, Kentucky, and worked in crafts marketing, throughout this decade. Berry, Wendell. The Unsettling of America: Culture and Agriculture. 228 pages. San Francisco, California: Sierra Club Books, a 1986 edition of a 1977 release. Trade paperback. $7.95. A new preface, dated 1986, sets off what has become a classic plea for America to turn back to a respectful rootedness on the earth. An urgent, compelling and thought-provoking book, one of the most powerful of the current era. Best, Bill. The Great Appalachian Sperm Bank and Other Writings. 125 pages. Berea, Kentucky: Kentucke Imprints, 1986. Trade paperback. $6.95. The title essay in this collection is an attempt to satirize Harry Caudill's blunt insistence that some of Appalachia's problems are genetic. In his foreword, however, Caudill insists that Best's "sperm bank" is a wonderful idea. AU of this makes for enjoyable reading for those who don't take things too seriously. The other essays take on other issues with Best's characteristic provocative and pointed commentary giving the reader a great deal to ponder. •George Brosi owns and operates the Appalachian Bookstore in Berea and publishes the bimonthly Appalachian Mountain Books. He also sells books through mail orders to clients in all parts of the country . If readers need more information about any of the above listings, write him at 123 Walnut Street, Berea, KY 40403. 92 Carter, Forest. The Education ofLittle Tree. 216 pages. Albuquerque, New Mexico: University of New Mexico Press, a 1986 reprint of a 1976 release with a new preface. Trade paperback. $10.95. "Everyone who has ever read The Education ofLittle Tree seems to remember when and where and how they came to know the book...for [it] is a book from which one never quite recovers.... Little Tree is Carter's autobiographical remembrances of life with his Eastern Cherokee hill country grandparents. But [it] is... much more than a touching account of 1930s' depression-era life. This book is a human document of universal meaning. The Education ofLittle Tree speaks to the human spirit and reaches the very depth of the human soul." —Rennard Strickland in the new preface. Caudill, Harry M. Lester's Progress. 106 pages. Berea, Kentucky: Kentucke Imprints, 1986. Trade paperback. $6.95. The author of Night Comes to the Cumberlands, widely regarded as one of the most powerful books ever written on Appalachia, here turns his hand to biting satire making fun of all the hallowed institutions of the "Quackgrass State," even "Gruff" Arena and "Harry M. Cuddle" himself! Sure to offend anyone who reads it, and not recommended for people still forming their impressions of Eastern Kentucky, it is perfect, however, for those with a good sense of humor who have kept abreast of current events in Kentucky. This book is a tribute to small presses. No major publisher would have touched it. Chappell, Fred. Dagon. 181 pages. New York: St. Martin's Press, the first paperback edition, 1987, of a 1968 release. Mass market paperback. $3.50. "I am honestly convinced that Fred Chappell is one of the finest writers of this time, one of the rare and precious few who are truly 'major' " —George Garrett. "Dagon is fascinating and disturbing, and...smoothly and beautifully written. It casts its own spell which is not easy to shake off." —Joan Williams. The novel centers around a writer and his wife who go to his late grandfather's farm in the North Carolina mountains to write a book about a pagan god. It turns out that the god, Dagon, is alive and well and haunting the farm. The French Academy named Dagon the Best Foreign Novel of 1968. Cherniack, Martin. The Hawk's Nest Incident: America's Worst Industrial Disaster. 194 pages. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press...