The Southern Appalachian Forests
By H. B. Ayres and W. W. Ashe
Govt. Printing Office, 1905
291 pages, Indexed, Searchable
- Bonus Book -
Appalachian America
A Study of the Educational and Social Status
of the Southern Mountaineers
By James Lyons, 1914
125 pages, Illustrated, Indexed, Searchable
- Bonus Book -
A Report In Relation to
the Forests, Rivers and Mountains
of the Southern Appalachian Region
By Govt. Printing Office, 1902
303 pages, Indexed, Searchable
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Appalachia is a term used to describe a cultural region in the eastern United States that stretches from the Southern Tier of
New York state to northern Alabama, Mississippi, and Georgia. While the Appalachian Mountains stretch from Belle Isle in
Canada to Cheaha Mountain in the U.S. state of Alabama, the cultural region of Appalachia typically refers only to the central
and southern portions of the range. As of 2005, the region was home to approximately 23 million people.
Since its recognition as a distinctive region in the late 19th century, Appalachia has been a source of enduring myths and
distortions regarding the isolation, temperament, and behavior of its inhabitants. Early 20th-century writers focused on
sensationalistic aspects of the region's culture, such as moonshining and clan feuding, and often portrayed the region's inhabitants
as uneducated and prone to impulsive acts of violence. Sociological studies in the 1960s and 1970s helped to re-examine and
dispel these stereotypes, although popular media continue to perpetuate the image of Appalachia as a culturally backward region
into the 21st century.
While endowed with abundant natural resources, Appalachia has long been associated with and struggled with poverty. In the
early 20th century, large-scale logging and coal mining firms brought wage-paying jobs and modern amenities to Appalachia,
but by the 1960s the region had failed to capitalize on any long-term benefits from these two industries. Beginning in the 1930s,
the federal government sought to alleviate poverty in the Appalachian region with a series of New Deal initiatives, such as the
construction of dams to provide cheap electricity and the implementation of better farming practices. In 1965, the Appalachian
Regional Commission was created to further alleviate poverty in the region, mainly by diversifying the region's economy and
helping to provide better health care and educational opportunities to the region's inhabitants. By 1990, Appalachia had
largely joined the economic mainstream, but still lagged behind the rest of the nation in most economic indicators.