This book is a documentation of the exhibit entitled Kentucky Rifles of the Great Smoky Mountains held at the Great Smoky Mountains Heritage Center in Townsend, Tennessee from May 1 through October 25, 2018. The exhibit was sponsored by the Kentucky Rifle Foundation, http://kentuckyriflefoundation.org/ , and showcases southern mountain rifles from Eastern Tennessee and Western North CarolinaThe body of the book provides a two-page layout on each rifle in the exhibit. Each layout begins with a description of the rifle, its builder if known, and the area of the Smokies where it was built. These descriptions are based on the rifles' style and particular characteristics, established by where the builder lived and other similar rifles found in that local area. The description is complemented by a half-dozen detailed photos of the rifle, on a white background. The photos typically show a full-length photo of the rifle, a detail of each side of the butt stock, and top and bottom views. Additional photos are of details such as the builder's signature and patchbox.The book also contains layouts of the four pistols and three accessory sets including hunting bags and powder horns that were part of the exhibit. As an appendix, the book contains a table giving related dimensions for each of the rifles and pistols providing information such as caliber, overall length, barrel length, trigger pull, and drop of the butt plate. This information is especially useful to researchers and contemporary builders. The book ends with a collage of photos related to the exhibit.The book should be of interest to local historians and anyone interested in the Kentucky rifle and its use in colonial America. It should be of particular interest to anyone owning one of these rifles or seeking to learn how to recognize the nuances of southern mountain rifles from the Smokies. The book contains over 175 full-color high resolution photographs of the 23 rifles, 4 pistols, and hunting accessories, in an 8.5 X 11-inch format.

The acclaimed writer shares an intimate portrait of his former mentor V.S. Naipaul in this memoir of their thirty-year friendship and sudden falling out. Paul Theroux was a young aspiring writer when he met the legendary V.S. Naipaul in Uganda in 1966. There began a friendship that would span continents as both men ascended the ranks of literary stardom. Naipaul’s early encouragement of Theroux’s talent had a profound impact on him—yet the apprenticeship was not always easy. This heartfelt and revealing account of Theroux's thirty-year friendship with Naipaul explores the unique effect each writer had on the other. Built around exotic landscapes, anecdotes that are revealing, humorous, and melancholy, and three decades of mutual history, this is a personal account of how one develops as a writer and how a friendship waxes and wanes between two men who have set themselves on the perilous journey of a writing life. A New York Times Notable Book