Intending to create a foundational text for further scholarship on Appalachian writing, the editors have selected 29 critical reviews for this collection. They include thematic surveys on the reasons why Appalachian authors are becoming considered worthy of academic criticism and the history of the regional genre as well as commentary on specific authors and works. Authors and works include Jesse Stuart, a comparison of changing views about Stuart and Pound, the poetry of James Still, Hariette Arrow's The Dollmaker, social criticism in the works of Wilma Dykeman, Mary Lee Settle's autobiographies, the concepts of home and machine, the roles of kin and counterculture in Gurney Norman, John Ehle's fiction, Lee Smith's use of language in Oral History, two reviews of works by Jo Carson, the role of community in Fred Chappell's works, the role of Calvinism in the poetry of Robert Morgan, and the promise of feminist ecocriticism. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com) -- Distributed by Syndetics Solutions, LLC.