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Historic Photos of Appalachia book cover

Historic Photos of Appalachia

by Kevin O'Donnell
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SKU 9781684420902
Appalachia: The place and its people have long inspired a special fascination among travelers and commentators. The rugged, ecologically rich mountains, at once forbidding and inviting, have provided a place of retreat and exploration for lovers of natural beauty and outdoor adventure, while the region’s resources have long lured both capitalists intent on creating wealth and regular folks just looking for a steady wage. The inhabitants native to the region have often been held up as pure, strong, and self-sufficient on the one hand, and derided as primitive, backward, and exotic, on the other.

Not quite south or north, east or west, the region continues to defy easy classification. Yet it emerges in Historic Photos of Appalachia as both distinct and as familiarly American. The nearly 200 photographs included here portray the region’s land and people in all their distinctive and sometimes surprising specificity—including views of towns, houses, and farms; families at home and on the job; railroads, mining, and logging; and beautiful streams and mountain landscapes.

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Book details

Text by
Kevin O'Donnell
Imprint
Turner Publishing Company
Published
Pages
202
Formats
Hardcover
Series
Historic Photos
Subjects
Photography › Photoessays & Documentaries
Photography › Subjects & Themes
Topics
black-and-white photography · pictorial history · local history · mountain communities · American South
ISBN-13
9781684420902

About the author

KEVIN E. O'DONNELL is a Professor of English at East Tennessee State University and Director of the Environmental Studies Minor, specializing in composition, environmental writing, and American literature. His books include Historic Photos of Appalachia and Seekers of Scenery: Travel Writing from Southern Appalachia, 1840–1900, the latter co-edited with Helen Hollingsworth.

O'Donnell received the 2024 Stephen L. Fisher Award for Excellence in Teaching from the Appalachian Studies Association. He holds a PhD from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee.

When he’s not writing, O'Donnell teaches and directs the Environmental Studies Minor at ETSU in Johnson City, Tennessee. His work in environmental writing and American literature grows directly from his engagement with the Appalachian region.

Kevin lives in Upper East Tennessee.

More books by Kevin O'Donnell →

Format: Hardcover