Back Talk from Appalichia: Confronting Stereotypes ed. by Dwight B. Billings, Gurney Norman, Katherine Ledford, A History of Appalachia by Richard B. Drake (review)

Review Essay Dwight B. Billings, Gurncy Norman, and Katherine Ledfi)rd, cd. s. Bilck Talk frcini Appillitchici: Co,] fronting Stereoly/ ies. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2001. 368 pp. ISBN: 08131 90010 paper).SI9. 00. Rich. ird B. Drake. A History of Appelachia. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2000. 318 pp. ISBN: 081312 I698 {cloth). $ 29.95. The historians, sociologists, anthropc, logists, geographers, and activists who delve into Appalachian studies have come to understand that the idea of Appalachia has a history apart from the social fact of Appalachin. Two recent publications tackle this problem. The first sets (, ut to hone a " lens of analysis"by unmasking familiar stereotypes. The Scc{, nd sets out to replace sterei)types wit]1 . 1 hiitc, i'jcal narrative culled from current scholarly literature. A variety of readers will find the results ,f both approaches to he useful. According to the : Kiciologist L) wight B. Billings, Btick Ttilk fr( 1111 Appalachid: Conir< inting St er c<) types started as a response u, Robert Schenkkan' s 1992 Pulitzerwinning play, The Kentucky Cycle. The collecticin of scholarly and reflective essays grew beyond this initial purpose, and proposes, Ilillings suggests, a lens on American culture, Appalachian culture, and society's ignorance of and fascination with its hillbilly self"117). The Kentucky Cycle rehashed hillbilly stercutypes, presented them : is original, and was rewarded with : i Pulitzer. The stercotypes include Appal, chians' ccillective penchant for either vic} lence or : pathy, and the regicin's : abs(, lute hackwill '( Illess. Though Schenkkan claims to have researched the region, recent scholarship has debunked these myths. Hack TAk fr() 111 Appillachiti sets out to refute these and other Appalachian stereotypes as well : is to voice the " back talk"of ac: idem. ics, intellectuals, and activists. The editors grouped the bc} c,k's twentytwo essays into five categi,ries, each of which represents a particular strategy of " talking back"to App: lachi: in stere(, types. The first has one essay. Ron: ild Lewis' s Beyc, nd Isolation and Homogeneity: Diversity and the Hist() ry of Appalachia," synthesizes recent historical schc)]: irship and concludes that throughout the nineteenth century Appalachia did 11() t lievel(, p : 11, 1,rt frcim national commerce and sc) cial change. The next six scholarly essays further explore the region's inventioii in fictic)n and travel narratives. Kenneth W. Noe, for example, asks why nineteenthcentury writers depicted the region : 19 a Unionist stronghld, even though it was bitterly clivided. The third strategy showc:, scs Appalachi: ins' personal responses ic) storeutypes. Writer Anne Shelby, for example, explains why " redneck"ic, kes c, ffend her, and the novelist 1) enise Giardina reflects on hc,w her family's ilynamic history clashes with the stereutype of a static regicin populated by SccitchIrish . The fc,urth grouping c) f five essays explc)res the experiences of grassroots activists. Phil () bermiller, fc,1- example, takes an interesting angle and discusses how Appalachian migrants to Cincinnati have organized and dealt with the persistence of unflattering stereotypeS . The last fc)ur essays critique the play that sparked the book. Gurney Ncirin: in's essay is peihaps the mi,st damaging criticism of Appalachian stereotypes . Schenkkan did little ti) Commulle with : ind to understand Appal: ichia, Norm; iii 11-glIC?i. Nonetheless, his play exploits Appalachians : is a metaphor for the ill effects of American greed. The author continues, Schenkkan's " attempt fails because it does nc, t take intc, account the real lives of li, cal people, their unruly resistance to being pigconlic)| Cd, categorized, essentialized, or c<, nsigned to the categories of 'other' ,) 1· ' marginal"' £ 3311. This resi]icnce itself forms the impulse behind tile " real" Appalachi: ins who contributed tc) the hc,ok. As ti) be expected, the Sc)lirces for and the quality of the essays vary. Appalachian Studies itself is an eclectic field. The contributcirs include five hist<) riins , four sociologists, four liter: iry ac: ideinics, three writers, two politic: it scientists, an : inthrcipologist, a profess,ir of urban affairs, and : in activist. M: iny (, t the contributors cannot be easily pigecnholed. Sally Ward Maggaril, fi3r one, sliciws how her research meshes with her experience ns a labor activist in castern Kentucky. Still, the " back talk"ccinics from : F. ill 2001 Review E., say 33 largely academic crowd: eighteen of the contributors nineteenth century, when the region underwent· hold academic posts. Without questioning their sin- industrialization, as well as the entire twentieth cencerity , one wonders whether the " back talk"is truly tury. Drake includes a section that explains how representative () f the region. Perhaps the collection Appalachia came to be " discovered"as a distinct itself adds even another dimension of sincere, but region in the latenineteenth century. In a chapter unrepresentative, rhetoric to Appalachian stereo- titled " The Appalachian Mind," he als{) develops a types. framework for understanding an authentic version of Finally, the introduction asks compelling ques- Appalachian culture. Drake wisely makes careful tions. Who has the power to speak for others?Why qualifications about the limited scope of his narrado stercotypes persist despite the scholarship and the tive, and most readers expect omissions and authentic voices that debunk them? The collection emphases in such books. begins to form answers, but common threads among 1) rake briefly mentions the Appalachian timber the essays, such as how the role of gender, race, class, booin of I 880-I 920 and overlooks the industry's modand place affect the meaning of stereotypes, deserve ern version. The iron and glass industries of the Ohio to be underscored. The editors would have done well Valley also receive little attention. The book's eight t() synthesize the essays with . 1 conclusion. Despite maps arc primitive, and the book contains neither minor flaws, the diversity of scholarship represented charts nor graphs. The limited inclusion of gender in the book will appeal to a broad audience of : ica- and ethnicity are also disappointing On the other demics, students, activists, perhaps even the hand, Drake dwells on frontier warfare, party politics American literati. froin the Civil War to contemporary times, and the The second publication, A History of persistence of selfsufficient agriculture. For examAppalachia , by Richard B. Drake, professor eineritus ple, Drake suggests that the region's support of of history : it Berea College, anibitiously sets out to Richard Nixon in I972 and Ronald Reagan in the replace stereotypes with a veritable history of the I 9808 reflect a general rejection, and failure, of the region. The rchillt resembles a textbook that spans Lyndon B. Johnson's " Great Society"programs. Some from aboriginal settlement to the present. Drake sociolcigists and political scientists would cite the underscores five themes that bridge the timeframe . transforming power of the community activism that First, Appalachia is more than a " figment"c) f the marked the same period. In sum, Drake's narrative of nation's imagination. It is, 1) rake asserts, a distinct Appalachia is more akin to political history than to region with : 1 unique history. Second, the capital that social history. developed the region's industries came from absentee Nonetheless, the book contains much that is investors. The third theine suggests that such a recommendable. Most of the work is drawn from seccolonial model"of App: 11: ichion history should not ondary sources, and Dr: ike includes historiographical overshadow the perseverance of a " yeomanesque" perspectives on current and groundbreaking literamentality . Fourth, the presence of Appalachian ture. The author manages to keep the hook's five wilderness has influenced both the regional culture main themes in the forcfront. They may bc debatand the nation's perception of the region. Finally, able, but they arc fodder for further discussion on sevDrake concludes that the Appalachia's diversity pre- eral levels. The book also has an upto date , annotatcludes one sole version of its history. He admits to ed bibliography. These features would make the book have written ,/ history,not the history, of Appalachia. an excellent choice fc,r ati undergraditate class in Drake breaks Appalachian history intO three App: 11 : 7chian studies or for a person who is seeking a parts. The first, " The Contest for Appalachia," deals sound read of the region's complex and long history. with the v. 11· i Clus groups : ind nations that vied for hegemony over the region during the eighteenth cenWilliam B. Klaus tury. Part Two, " The New Nation and the West Virginia University Appalachian Backwoods," emphasizes the ycoman inhabitants, the displacement of the Cherokee, and the region's politics during the sectional crisis. The third part, " Modern Appalochia," covers the lateOhio Valley History 34 ...