Travels with Foxfire
Stories of People, Passions, and Practices from Southern Appalachia
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4.0 • 1 Rating
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- $7.99
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
Since 1972, the Foxfire books have preserved and celebrated the culture of Southern Appalachia for hundreds of thousands of readers. In Travels with Foxfire, native son Phil Hudgins and Foxfire student Jessica Phillips travel from Georgia to the Carolinas, Tennessee to Kentucky, collecting the stories of the men and women who call the region home.
Across more than thirty essays, we discover the secret origins of stock car racing, the story behind the formation of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the vanishing art of gathering wild ginseng, and the recipes of an award-winning cookbook writer. We meet bootleggers and bear hunters, game wardens and medicine women, water dowsers, sculptors, folk singers, novelists, record collectors, and home cooks—even the world’s foremost “priviologist”—all with tales to tell.
A rich compendium of the collected wisdom of artists, craftsmen, musicians, and moonshiners, Travels with Foxfire is a joyful tribute to the history, the geography, and the traditions that define Appalachian living.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Beginning in the 1970s, the Foxfire book and television series introduced Appalachian culture to an enthusiastic public; this latest installment continues the tradition with a group of comfortable, conversational vignettes from rural Georgia, North and South Carolina, Tennessee, and Kentucky. Hudgins and Phillips effectively serve Foxfire's goal of preserving the Southern mountainous region's traditions and folklore, with stories ranging from a lighthearted look at Carl "Feel Bad" Davis's considerable tractor collection to the heartrending tale of a homeless medicine woman devoted to passing along her healing arts. Phillips conducted interviews, and the experienced Hudgins hews to the storytelling angle, basking in the banter over NASCAR's link to moonshine running or the history of the bluegrass musical tradition. This low-key travelogue is especially timely, providing (largely nonpolitical) insight into the lives of hardworking people in coal country who desperately hope for better job opportunities. Some readers may be surprised by the breadth of material encompassed here; there are some chapters on African-American artistry and some on award-winning regional cooking (often including recipes). The collection ends abruptly, with no closing chapter, but anyone with an interest in Americana, history, or nature will appreciate these poignant and enjoyable stories of shared knowledge and traditions.
