Mariner Media

In Voices from the Hollow Philip Hirsh captures the heart of America's two world system - the privileged and the working class. With the eyes of a child and the wisdom of a grown man, Hirsh explores the prejudices, universal racism of the time, elitist attitudes, and the true wealth and richness of rural American life that captivated his senses and forever shaped his belief system.

Hirsh's writing style makes you feel as if he's in your living room telling the hilariously funny, sometime poignant, and often revealing stories. The cultural divide that defined his early life as a young boy, following his family from suburban New York City to the family horse farm in the heart of Appalachia, is the soul of the book. With a family like his, how could Hirsh escape becoming a psychiatrist? You will develop a new and greater appreciation for your own family reading this entertaining book.

A remarkable collection of stories, passed from father to son, then grandfather to grandchildren, recounting the adventures of this family at the turn of the 20th century as they ventured into the Canadian bush country of northern Ontario.

It is a fascinating look at the turn of the 20th century and how the family lived among Indians, fended off wild animals, used the rivers like highways, and carved a life. Within the pages are many wonderful period photographs and contemporary illustrations.

At home in the foothills of the east Kentucky mountains, Bart Amburgey continues to write down his warm mountain memories from the 1930s-1950s.

Bart also records other realities of survival in the east Kentucky mountains: "...If we carried a kerosene lantern, it would take too much time to turn off. The flashlight was very important to a moonshiner. They didn't want to be tracked if someone was watching."

Over in the Country is a memoir about Paul and Eula Simms, remarkable people who never considered themselves remarkable, a rich collection of stories from their life on a farm in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia during the first half of the twentieth century. In 1904 Paul bought a hundred acres of raw land, mostly rolling hills, but with enough level ground for a house and a garden. To make their farm prosper, he and his bride Eula Rakes brought their experiences growing up in the country, their eagerness to try new ideas and inventions, their willingness to work hard, and their determination to succeed. Almost as essential was the pleasure they took in good fun, good food, and a healthy sense of humor. The memoir tells stories about Paul and Eula before they married, their efforts to make the farm pay, their four children, kinfolk and neighbors, church and school in an isolated mountain community. The small self-sufficient farms of earlier America are gone. Stories such as these help us remember our grandparents and connect us to our past.

Do you believe in ghosts? Many people claim they don't - but then they stop to think for a moment and say, "Well, there was this strange thing that happened..." These strange things, whatever they are, really are all around us - whether we believe or not. Katie Letcher Lyle relates the stories of her friends and neighbors that are amazing . . .and true!

. . . Ending with a Flourish is a Festschrift - a collection of essays - honoring William A. Jenks, a member of the Washington & Lee Department of History from 1946 until his retirement in 1983. Jenks was the chairman of the department from 1970 to 1983. Dr. Jenks's reputation in history graduate departments in colleges and universities across the United States is legendary, as some of the most respected and noted scholars of the last 40 years in European history have come out of his classes. These essays offer observations on his style of teaching, his impact on the lives of his students, and on Bill Jenks himself.