The Upland South is a regional band of natural beauty that runs from Virginia and North Carolina west through Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas and their bordering states. This book explores the region's character through an analysis of its traditional cultural landscape.

" ÒA woman was sitting on the witness stand, and the lawyer asked her, ÔDid you, or did you not, on the night of June 23rd have sex with a hippie on the back of a motorcycle in a peach orchard?Õ She thought for a few minutes, then said, ÔWhat was that date again?ÕÓÑfrom the book Lawyers have long been known as master storytellers, and those from Kentucky are certainly no exception. Veteran oral historian and folklorist Lynwood Montell has collected tales from dozens of lawyers and judges from throughout the Bluegrass State, ranging from the story about the tough Jackson County judge who fined himself for being late to court to unwelcome dogs in the courtroom. Recorded just as they have been told for generations, these stories are sometimes funny, sometimes sad or frightening, sometimes raw and harrowing, but always remarkable. Far more than collection of lawyer jokes, Tales from Kentucky Lawyers recounts the most insightful, entertaining, and occasionally heartbreaking stories ever told by and about Kentucky lawyers and their clients, covering the spectrum from arson to homicide, domestic disagreements to sexual abuse, and everything in between. Tales from Kentucky Lawyers is a valuable resource for folklorists as well as an entertaining and vivid account of the often-surprising legal world.

In 1929, in a remote county of the Arkansas Ozarks, the gruesome murder of harmonica-playing drifter Connie Franklin and the brutal rape of his teenaged fiancée captured the attention of a nation on the cusp of the Great Depression. National press from coast to coast ran stories of the sensational exploits of night-riding moonshiners, powerful "Barons of the Hills," and a world of feudal oppression in the isolation of the rugged Ozarks. The ensuing arrest of five local men for both crimes and the confusion and superstition surrounding the trial and conviction gave Stone County a dubious and short-lived notoriety. Closely examining how the story and its regional setting were interpreted by the media, Brooks Blevins recounts the gripping events of the murder investigation and trial, where a man claiming to be the murder victim--the "Ghost" of the Ozarks--appeared to testify. Local conditions in Stone County, which had no electricity and only one long-distance telephone line, frustrated the dozen or more reporters who found their way to the rural Ozarks, and the developments following the arrests often prompted reporters' caricatures of the region: accusations of imposture and insanity, revelations of hidden pasts and assumed names, and threats of widespread violence. Locating the past squarely within the major currents of American history, Ghost of the Ozarks: Murder and Memory in the Upland South paints a convincing backdrop to a story that, more than 80 years later, remains riddled with mystery.

This is a new release of the original 1933 edition.

A fascinating overview of the lands and peoples of the United States and Canada, both past and present. Based on decades of research and written in clear, concise prose by one of the foremost geographers in North America, John C. Hudson's Across This Land is a comprehensive regional geography of the North American continent. Dividing the terrain into ten regions, which are then subdivided into twenty-seven smaller areas, Hudson's brisk narrative reveals the dynamic processes of each area's distinctive place-specific characteristics. Focusing on how human activities have shaped and have been shaped by the natural environment, Hudson considers physical, political, and historical geography. He also highlights related topics, including resource exploitation, economic development, and population change. Praised in its first edition as a readable and reliable interpretation of United States and Canadian geography, the revised Across This Land retains these strengths while adding substantial new material. Incorporating the latest available population and economic data, this thoroughly updated edition includes • reflections on new developments, such as resource schemes, Native governments in Atlantic Canada, and the role of climate change in the Arctic • a new section focused on the US Pacific insular territories west of Hawaii • evolving views of oil and gas production resulting from the introduction of hydraulic fracturing • revised text and maps involving agricultural production based on the 2017 Census of Agriculture • current place names • more than 130 photographs The most extensive regional geography of the North American continent on the market, Hudson's Across This Land will continue as the standard text in geography courses dealing with Canada and the United States, as well as a popular reference work for scholars, students, and lay readers.

• A New Republic Best Book of the Year • The Globalist Top Books of the Year • Winner of the Maine Literary Award for Non-fiction Particularly relevant in understanding who voted for who during presidential elections, this is an endlessly fascinating look at American regionalism and the eleven “nations” that continue to shape North America According to award-winning journalist and historian Colin Woodard, North America is made up of eleven distinct nations, each with its own unique historical roots. In American Nations he takes readers on a journey through the history of our fractured continent, offering a revolutionary and revelatory take on American identity, and how the conflicts between them have shaped our past and continue to mold our future. From the Deep South to the Far West, to Yankeedom to El Norte, Woodard (author of American Character: A History of the Epic Struggle Between Individual Liberty and the Common Good) reveals how each region continues to uphold its distinguishing ideals and identities today, with results that can be seen in the composition of the U.S. Congress or on the county-by-county election maps of any hotly contested election in our history.