Covering Bristol's formative years, this is the story of people and events surrounding the rise of this city between two states—the town that Joseph R. Anderson, its founder, wanted to call "Paradise." The book reveals a cross section of Bristol's ancestry, ranging from the noble and well-known to the humble and obscure. Containing a myriad of facts that will be of wide local interest, the narrative offers insight into the human condition as it existed during the last century. Enhanced with numerous old photographs, this carefully researched volume is a definitive reference on Bristol.

The Tri-Cities has been blessed with fame-worthy eateries that have helped shape the area's identity. Elvis shimmied through the area during his up-and-coming years, making for one incredibly happy girl and her not-so-happy boyfriend. Broadwater Drug Stores served hamburgers that brought in customers from miles around. Hungry patrons had to arrive very early at Mountaineer Restaurant or they wouldn't find a place to park. Home Sweet Home and the Mezzanine Tea Room offered homey atmospheres and had the best quiche in the area. Visitors to Skoby's World were treated to a culinary trip around the world. Author Daphne Matthews details the delectable stories of the most iconic restaurants in the Tri-Cities' past.

As the COVID-19 virus swept across the nation in spring 2020, infection and hospitalization rates in states like West Virginia remained relatively low. By that July, each of Appalachia's 423 counties had recorded confirmed cases. The coronavirus pandemic has taken an enormous toll on the health of individuals and institutions throughout the region—a stark reminder that even isolated rural populations are subject to historical, biological, ecological, and geographical factors that have continually created epidemics over the past millennia. In Appalachian Epidemics: From Smallpox to COVID-19, scholars from diverse disciplinary backgrounds assess two centuries of public health emergencies and the subsequent responses. This volume peers into the trans–Appalachian South's experience with illness, challenging the misconception that rurality provides protection against maladies. In addition to surveying the impact of influenza, polio, and Lyme disease outbreaks, Appalachian Epidemics addresses the less-understood social determinants of health. The effects of the opioid crisis and industrial coal mining complicate the definition of disease and illuminate avenues for responding to future public health threats. From the significance of regional stereotypes to the spread of misinformation and the impact of racism and poverty on public health policy, Appalachian Epidemics makes clear that many of the natural, political, and socioeconomic forces currently shaping the region's experiences with COVID-19 and other crises have historical antecedents.

From a devil cat to a Rebel ghost to the possible resting place of Big Foot—the Kingsport/Johnson City/Bristol region gives up its supernatural secrets. Summon the necessary courage and dare to explore the haunted history of the “mountain empire.” Tales of ghostly spirits envelop the northeast Tennessee landscape like a familiar mountain fog. Join Pete Dykes, editor of Kingsport’s Daily News, as he offers up a collection of spooky local stories and legends from centuries past, including such spine-chilling accounts as the foreboding ghost of Netherland Inn Road, spectral disturbances at the Rotherwood Mansion, devilish felines, ruthless poltergeists in Caney Creek Falls, the tortured cries from fallen Rebel soldiers still heard today and—could bigfoot really be buried in the woods of Big Stone Gap? Includes photos!

After the Civil War, the city of Chattanooga, Tennessee, forged a different path than most southern urban centers. Long a portal to the Deep South, Chattanooga was largely rebuilt by northern men, using northern capital, and imbued with northern industrial values. As such, the city served as a cultural and economic nexus between North and South, and its northern elite stood out distinctively from the rest of the region’s booster class. In Chattanooga, 1865–1900, Tim Ezzell explores Chattanooga’s political and economic development from the close of the Civil War through the end of the nineteenth century, revealing how this unique business class adapted, prospered, and governed in the postwar South. After reviewing Chattanooga’s wartime experience, Ezzell chronicles political and economic developments in the city over the next two generations. White Republicans, who dominated municipal government thanks to the support of Chattanooga’s large African American population, clashed repeatedly with Democrats, who worked to “redeem” the city from Republican rule and restore “responsible,” “efficient” government. Ezzell shows that, despite the efforts by white Democrats to undermine black influence, black Chattanoogans continued to wield considerable political leverage into the 1890s. On the economic front, an extensive influx of northern entrepreneurs and northern capital into postwar Chattanooga led to dynamic if unstable growth. Ezzell details the city’s efforts to compete with Birmingham as the center of southern iron and steel production. At times, this vision was within reach, but these hopes faded by the 1890s, and Chattanooga grew into something altogether different: not northern, not southern, but something peculiar “set down in Dixie.” Although Chattanooga never reached its Yankee boosters’ ideal of “a northern industrial city at home in the southern hills,” Ezzell demonstrates that it forged a legacy of resilience and resourcefulness that continues to serve the community to the present day.