“The borderlands — as this region was known — were remote and lawless territories that had been fought over for hundreds of years… And when they immigrated to North America, they moved into the American interior, to remote, lawless, rocky, and marginally fertile places like Harlan that allowed them to reproduce in the New World […]
This is part of the So Far Appalachia book project. If you enjoy what you read, please visit my Kickstarter page (and pass this along to any friends who you think might find this interesting). * * * Robert Lee Baker, Sr, my great-grandfather, was the last man killed in the Clay County War. There are […]
This is part of the So Far Appalachia book project. If you enjoy what you read, please vist my Kickstarter page (and pass this along to any friends who you think might find this interesting). * * * The days after the Clay County War were difficult on my branch of the Baker family. Robert Baker […]
This is part of the So Far Appalachia book project. If you enjoy what you read, please vist my Kickstarter page (and pass this along to any friends who you think might find this interesting). * * * I’ve been a passionate advocate for Appalachia for most of my professional life, even though my writing has […]
This is part of the So Far Appalachia book project. If you enjoy what you read, please vist my Kickstarter page (and pass this along to any friends who you think might find this interesting). * * * “The lived in a place that wasn’t really made for farming.” That’s how my family described Crane Creek, […]
This is part of the So Far Appalachia book project. If you enjoy what you read, please vist my Kickstarter page (and pass this along to any friends who you think might find this interesting). * * * The Bakers have a long, complicated history with this country, one in which I’ll explore through the chapters […]
This is part of the So Far Appalachia book project. If you enjoy what you read, please vist my Kickstarter page (and pass this along to any friends who you think might find this interesting). * * * Whenever I sit down to write about Appalachia and my family’s home, I struggle. As much as I […]
This is part of the So Far Appalachia book project. If you enjoy what you read, please vist my Kickstarter page (and pass this along to any friends who you think might find this interesting). * * * “There are volumes of unwritten history here that should never be written, of the sins of this country. […]
Long before I’d settled on writing this book, I found myself drawn to the Appalachian region. In 1997, I sent out to cover The World’s Longest Outdoor Sale for a little magazine in San Diego, the name of which I no longer remember. I do remember that they paid next-to-nothing, maybe a few hundred dollars, […]
This is part of the So Far Appalachia book project. If you enjoy what you read, please vist my Kickstarter page (and pass this along to any friends who you think might find this interesting). * * * In the coming days, I’ll be writing a little bit aboutThe World’s Longest Outdoor Sale. For now: Here […]
This is part of the So Far Appalachia book project. If you enjoy what you read, please vist my Kickstarter page (and pass this along to any friends who you think might find this interesting). * * * Growing up, I always considered Appalachia as some mystical place forgotten in time. I say this full well […]
Community. That’s a word with which I never associated as I grew up, left the Midwest, and headed into the world with delusions of writing grandeur. Life was short, and there was little time to consider what was happening around me if I wanted to succeed. These days, I move a little slower and I […]