University of Illinois Press, 2004 eISBN: 978-0-252-09283-1 | Paper: 978-0-252-07157-7 | Cloth: 978-0-252-02887-8 Library of Congress Classification PS3545.E8279A6 2004 Dewey Decimal Classification 811.54
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC
ABOUT THIS BOOK
This is the first book to celebrate the life and writing of one of the most charismatic Southern leaders of the middle twentieth century, Don West (1906-1992). West was a poet, a pioneer advocate for civil rights, a preacher, a historian, a labor organizer, a folk-music revivalist, an essayist, and an organic farmer. He is perhaps best known as an educator, primarily as cofounder of the Highlander Folk School in Tennessee and founder of the Appalachian South Folklife Center in West Virginia. In his old age, West served as an elder statesman for his causes.
No Lonesome Road allows Don West to speak for himself. It provides the most comprehensive collection of his poetry ever published, spanning five decades of his literary career. It also includes the first comprehensive and annotated collection of West's nonfiction essays, articles, letters, speeches, and stories, covering his role at the forefront of Southern and Appalachian history, and as a pioneer researcher and writer on the South's little-known legacy of radical activism.
Drawing from both primary and secondary sources, including previously unknown documents, correspondence, interviews, FBI files, and newspaper clippings, the introduction by Jeff Biggers stands as the most thorough, insightful biographical sketch of Don West yet published in any form.
The afterword by George Brosi is a stirring personal tribute to the contributions of West and also serves as a thoughtful reflection on the interactions between the radicals of the 1930s and the 1960s.
The best possible introduction to his extraordinary life and work, this annotated selection of Don West's writings will be inspirational reading for anyone interested in Southern history, poetry, religion, or activism.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Jeff Biggers is a writer and radio correspondent based in Illinois and Italy. He has contributed to NPR, PRI, The Atlantic, and other periodicals. George Brosi, a long-time associate of Don West, is a bookseller, authority on writings about Appalachia, and the editor of Appalachian Heritage. He teaches at Eastern Kentucky University.
REVIEWS
American Book Award, given by the Before Columbus Foundation, 2005.
— Before Columbus Foundation
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction by Jeff Biggers
Selected Prose
Clods of Southern Earth: Introduction (1946)
The First Jew I Ever Met and the Devil's Den (1985)
Hard Times Cotton Mills Girls (1979)
Harry Harrison Kroll: An Essay (1986)
Knott County, Kentucky: A Study (1932)
Sweatshops in the Schools (1933)
Georgia Wanted Me Dead or Alive (1934)
Let Freedom Ring (1936)
Thoughts of a Kentucky Miner (1936)
Tobe-Boy (1940)
Dreams (1944)
Georgia Crisis (1947)
Speaking of the Poet (1951)
West Answers VFW's Letter (1955)
We Southerners Have a Rendezvous with Destiny (1956)
The Death of Old Major (1966)
Jesus, the Quiet Revolutionary (1967)
Romantic Appalachia; or, Poverty Pays If You Ain't Poor (1969)
People's Cultural Heritage in Appalachia (1971)
Robert S. Tharin: Advocate of the Poor White Trash (1973)
In a Land of Plenty: No Copyright (1982-85)
Selected Poems
From Crab-Grass (1931)
Dedication
Crab-Grass
Bill Dalton's Wife
Ole Kim Mulkey
When I Am Old
Denmark
Mountain Reverie
Mountaineer's Desire
To--
Prayer
In Potters Field
From Deep, Deep Down in Living (n.d.)
Deep, Deep Down in Living
Mountain Widow
Mountain Boy
Harlan Portraits
Brown Brother
Epitaphs
From Between the Plow Handles (1932)
A'Callin' Home th' Hogs
Dark Winds
Scratching in Memory
I've Seen God
Highlander Youth
Between the Plow Handles
<br> 4
<br> From Toil and Hunger (1940)
Funeral Notes
Anger
What Shall a Poet Sing
Symbols
Visit
Toil and Hunger
Southern Nights
Dark Night
Hungry Old River
Song of the Saw
Stillborn
Seeker
They Take Their Stand
Clodhopper
Night on a Mill Hill
Homecoming
My South
Georgia Mother
From Clods of Southern Earth (1946)
Look Here, America
Miner's Widow
Should I Have Said
And I Have Loved
Harlan Coal Digger, 1934
These I Remember
Voice of the Cracker
No Lonesome Road
From The Road Is Rocky (1951)
There's Anger in the Land
Sad, Sad America
Question Mark
Oh, Pity Those
Advice to Would-Be Poets
Where Tears of Sorrow
Four Gifts for Man
The Dangerous Ones
These Things
Remember Me
These Songs of Mine
From O Mountaineers! (1974)
Obituary for Despair
The Kennedy Baby
Automated Miner
Confession
Stereotypes
The Blessed
For These Sad Ashes
If I Could Make You
Hospital Waiting: May 8, 1963
Old Homeplace
There'll Be a Tomorrow
Mountain Heritage
Appalachian Blues
<br> 5
<br> From In a Land of Plenty (1982-1985)
When I Read the Report
Girl of Matoaka
Poor Little Rich Kids
Lolita Lebrun
Visit to Lolita Lebrun's Home
Funeral Notes 2
Great Day A-Coming
They Who Exploit
All of Them
My Poem
Something of America
Afterword by George Brosi
Notes to the Prose and Poems
A Don West Bibliography
Index
Library of Congress Subject Headings for this publication: Appalachian Region, Southern Poetry, Appalachian Region, Southern Civilization, Mountain life Appalachian Region, Southern, Mountain life Poetry
University of Illinois Press, 2004 eISBN: 978-0-252-09283-1 Paper: 978-0-252-07157-7 Cloth: 978-0-252-02887-8
This is the first book to celebrate the life and writing of one of the most charismatic Southern leaders of the middle twentieth century, Don West (1906-1992). West was a poet, a pioneer advocate for civil rights, a preacher, a historian, a labor organizer, a folk-music revivalist, an essayist, and an organic farmer. He is perhaps best known as an educator, primarily as cofounder of the Highlander Folk School in Tennessee and founder of the Appalachian South Folklife Center in West Virginia. In his old age, West served as an elder statesman for his causes.
No Lonesome Road allows Don West to speak for himself. It provides the most comprehensive collection of his poetry ever published, spanning five decades of his literary career. It also includes the first comprehensive and annotated collection of West's nonfiction essays, articles, letters, speeches, and stories, covering his role at the forefront of Southern and Appalachian history, and as a pioneer researcher and writer on the South's little-known legacy of radical activism.
Drawing from both primary and secondary sources, including previously unknown documents, correspondence, interviews, FBI files, and newspaper clippings, the introduction by Jeff Biggers stands as the most thorough, insightful biographical sketch of Don West yet published in any form.
The afterword by George Brosi is a stirring personal tribute to the contributions of West and also serves as a thoughtful reflection on the interactions between the radicals of the 1930s and the 1960s.
The best possible introduction to his extraordinary life and work, this annotated selection of Don West's writings will be inspirational reading for anyone interested in Southern history, poetry, religion, or activism.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Jeff Biggers is a writer and radio correspondent based in Illinois and Italy. He has contributed to NPR, PRI, The Atlantic, and other periodicals. George Brosi, a long-time associate of Don West, is a bookseller, authority on writings about Appalachia, and the editor of Appalachian Heritage. He teaches at Eastern Kentucky University.
REVIEWS
American Book Award, given by the Before Columbus Foundation, 2005.
— Before Columbus Foundation
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction by Jeff Biggers
Selected Prose
Clods of Southern Earth: Introduction (1946)
The First Jew I Ever Met and the Devil's Den (1985)
Hard Times Cotton Mills Girls (1979)
Harry Harrison Kroll: An Essay (1986)
Knott County, Kentucky: A Study (1932)
Sweatshops in the Schools (1933)
Georgia Wanted Me Dead or Alive (1934)
Let Freedom Ring (1936)
Thoughts of a Kentucky Miner (1936)
Tobe-Boy (1940)
Dreams (1944)
Georgia Crisis (1947)
Speaking of the Poet (1951)
West Answers VFW's Letter (1955)
We Southerners Have a Rendezvous with Destiny (1956)
The Death of Old Major (1966)
Jesus, the Quiet Revolutionary (1967)
Romantic Appalachia; or, Poverty Pays If You Ain't Poor (1969)
People's Cultural Heritage in Appalachia (1971)
Robert S. Tharin: Advocate of the Poor White Trash (1973)
In a Land of Plenty: No Copyright (1982-85)
Selected Poems
From Crab-Grass (1931)
Dedication
Crab-Grass
Bill Dalton's Wife
Ole Kim Mulkey
When I Am Old
Denmark
Mountain Reverie
Mountaineer's Desire
To--
Prayer
In Potters Field
From Deep, Deep Down in Living (n.d.)
Deep, Deep Down in Living
Mountain Widow
Mountain Boy
Harlan Portraits
Brown Brother
Epitaphs
From Between the Plow Handles (1932)
A'Callin' Home th' Hogs
Dark Winds
Scratching in Memory
I've Seen God
Highlander Youth
Between the Plow Handles
<br> 4
<br> From Toil and Hunger (1940)
Funeral Notes
Anger
What Shall a Poet Sing
Symbols
Visit
Toil and Hunger
Southern Nights
Dark Night
Hungry Old River
Song of the Saw
Stillborn
Seeker
They Take Their Stand
Clodhopper
Night on a Mill Hill
Homecoming
My South
Georgia Mother
From Clods of Southern Earth (1946)
Look Here, America
Miner's Widow
Should I Have Said
And I Have Loved
Harlan Coal Digger, 1934
These I Remember
Voice of the Cracker
No Lonesome Road
From The Road Is Rocky (1951)
There's Anger in the Land
Sad, Sad America
Question Mark
Oh, Pity Those
Advice to Would-Be Poets
Where Tears of Sorrow
Four Gifts for Man
The Dangerous Ones
These Things
Remember Me
These Songs of Mine
From O Mountaineers! (1974)
Obituary for Despair
The Kennedy Baby
Automated Miner
Confession
Stereotypes
The Blessed
For These Sad Ashes
If I Could Make You
Hospital Waiting: May 8, 1963
Old Homeplace
There'll Be a Tomorrow
Mountain Heritage
Appalachian Blues
<br> 5
<br> From In a Land of Plenty (1982-1985)
When I Read the Report
Girl of Matoaka
Poor Little Rich Kids
Lolita Lebrun
Visit to Lolita Lebrun's Home
Funeral Notes 2
Great Day A-Coming
They Who Exploit
All of Them
My Poem
Something of America
Afterword by George Brosi
Notes to the Prose and Poems
A Don West Bibliography
Index
Library of Congress Subject Headings for this publication: Appalachian Region, Southern Poetry, Appalachian Region, Southern Civilization, Mountain life Appalachian Region, Southern, Mountain life Poetry
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC