Winner of the W.D. Weatherford Award

"This book is one of only a handful of books ever published on Appalachia that really has something new, exciting, and important to say about the region." —Appalachian Heritage

"Cunningham's book is conjectural, analogical, metaphorical; its style is elegant, literate, poetical, and vastly learned. He compels the reader to consider Appalachia, American society, and indeed the inner consciousness of human society and the human self. This is a book to be read and pondered many times over." —John Opie, Appalachian Journal

"Anthropologists concerned with regionalism, ethnicity, and colonialism in various Third World settings also should find this book provocative reading.... Some social scientists may be uncomfortable with Cunningham's literary framing of his ideas, with his eclecticism and willingness to indulge in conjecture; but there is much in this book to reward the careful reading it demands." —Benita J. Howell, American Anthropologist

"This book goes beyond the traditional dichotomies of culture and politics, personal and social, and seeks to provide a holistic approach to regional character.... A book which offers an alternative vision to popular images of Appalachia and , as such, should have an important impact upon direction of future research." —Ronald D. Eller, Georgia Historical Quarterly

"An original and unobtrusively brilliant interpretation of the history and present condition of the people of Appalachia.... Historians may quarrel with certain aspects of Cunningham's interpretation, but I believe his thesis in its totality will be important to Appalachian scholarship for many decades to come." —Durwood Dunn, Tennessee Historical Quarterly