"As a benchmark book should, this one will stimulate the imagination and industry of future researchers as well as wrapping up the results of the last two decades of research... Eller's greatest achievement results from his successful fusion of scholarly virtues with literary ones. The book is comprehensive, but not overlong. It is readable but not superficial. The reader who reads only one book in a lifetime on Appalachia cannot do better than to choose this one... No one will be able to ignore it except those who refuse to confront the uncomfortable truths about American society and culture that Appalachia's history conveys." -- John A. Williams, Appalachian Journal.

Located in Tennessee and Kentucky, the Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area boasts a diverse and dramatic landscape ideal for all types of outdoor activities. This newly updated guide includes information on the area's geology, history, and wildlife, plus horseback riding, whitewater paddling, and backpacking. There's also advice about accommodations and services, activities for children, universally accessible campgrounds and trails, and exploration by car.

"John T. Wilder was an entrepreneur, Civil War general, and business leader who would become influential in the development of post-Civil War Chattanooga. A northern transplant who made his early fortune in the iron industry, Wilder would gain notoriety in the Western Theater through his victories at the battles of Chattanooga, Chickamauga, and throughout the Tullahoma and Atlanta Campaigns while leading the famous "Lightning Brigade." After the Civil War, he relocated to Chattanooga and began the Roane Iron Company and fostered southern ironworks throughout the southeast. He was elected mayor of Chattanooga but would fail to be elected to Congress as its representative. Finally, he was instrumental in the establishment of national military parks in Chattanooga and Chickamauga. Nicely's biography captures the life of a man important to the overall development of Chattanooga and East Tennessee and argues that Wilder was influential in bringing both northern and immigrant populations to the area"--

Isham Green Harris rose to prominence as leader of the southern rights wing of the Democratic Party in the 1850's. During the secession crisis of 1861, he used his influence and constitutional power as governor to trample on the Tennessee constitution in order to align Tennessee with the Confederacy; he tirelessly supported the Confederate war effort. When the war ended, he went into voluntary and temporary exile in Mexico, returning home in late 1867. He eventually became the best known of the state's Bourbon Democrats and was elected United States Senator in 1877, remaining in that office until his death.