Gainesboro, Tennessee, a village located on the Cumberland River in Tennessee's Upper Cumberland region. Logan, New Mexico, a village located 1300 miles due west on the Canadian River in New Mexico's Llano Estacado Southeast by Southwest: Village Scenes Century to Century is a collection of essays about these two villages, one settled in the early 19th century, the other created at the start of the 20th century, and both the result of Americans' westward journey across the North American continent. Both villages have faced the change that has come to rural America over the decades. However, these essays are not meant primarily as a history of the villages or of that change. Instead, they seek to give readers a sense of a time and a place as they tell of people and their projects, their celebrations, conflicts, successes, scandals, and tragedies.