The Foxfire Book of Appalachian Women
Stories of Landscape and Community in the Mountain South
by Ahrens, Kami
07 Mar 2023
University of North Carolina Press
Biographies & Memoirs | History | Nonfiction (Adult)
I am reviewing a copy of The Foxfire Book of Appalachian Women through The University of North Carolina Press and Netgalley.
The year was 1966, In Rabun County, Georgia a group of high school English students created the Foxfire magazine, a literary journal that celebrated Appalachian stories, peoples, and culture. The publication was filled with poetry and prose from local students and authors and featured interviews with community members.
The oral traditions of Appalachia soon became the focal point of the magazine and, eventually, the material that generated the multivolume Foxfire book series.
Pulled from the vast Foxfire archive comes the first volume in the series focused specifically on the lives of Appalachian women. These remarkable narratives bring to light a diverse regional culture held together by the threads that are woven between women and place, and through generations. Told sometimes with humor, sometimes with sadness, but always with a gripping rawness and honesty, the stories recount women’s lived experiences from the 1960s to the present.
In this book the interviews cover work, family, and community, illuminating Cherokee, Black, and white women’s experiences; changes in Appalachian culture; and the importance of relationships in daily life. Reading each interview in this book is almost like joining these women on their porches and in their homes as they take us on a journey through their lives. Taken together, the stories speak against regional stereotypes and offer instead a sampling of the many expressions of these women’s strength.
I give The Foxfire Book of Appalachian Women five out of five stars!
Happy Reading!
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