West Virginia Books

A good map for drives around eastern West Virginia - a lot easier to follow and less cumbersome than the West Virginia road atlas that we had been using. The street maps look good too, though we haven't had any reason to use them yet.

The author uses an almost lyrical approach to a subject which takes one beyond the history of a county in the State of West Virginia to a thorough enjoyment of anticipation in what gem of prose will leap off the page next. One does not have to be a history buff, nor be a native son of West Virginia, to enjoy the sheer writing excellence of this author.

Louise McNeill was the poet laureate of her home state of West Virginia, and this book is poetic in its evocation of the richness of rural life in that state. She makes you feel the variety and delight of nature, the security of family and friends, and the uncertainties of change. I reread this book about once a year, and I find it fresh and inspiring every time.

Well written and researched book. Reading this book not only helps one understand the history of Monacan Indian nation but provides another window into understanding American history - especially from another perspective. Seeing references to some of my ancestors only heightened the joy of the read. This book is a great read for anyone desiring to broaden their own understanding of the period, the era and the people of colonial America.

The Mountain Artisans Quilting Book is the best book on the contemporary adaptation of the old craft of quilting. It is a basic instructional book combining Alfred Allen Lewis's lucid instructions with the Coty-Award-winning designs created by Dorothy Weatherford for the Mountain Artisans. At the same time, it tells the heart-warming story of the Mountain Artisans: how the famous West Virginia cooperative was started by a group of idealistic young women, among them Sharon Percy Rockefeller; how their efforts to market the products of a centuries old craft overcame seemingly insurmountable obstacles to achieve national recognition and the highest accolade of all, the Coty Award.

The how-to-do-it sections of the book feature photographic step-by-step instructions on: traditional patchwork patterns, stitching, applique, hemming, binding, tufting, basting, tracing, design placement, bordering, quilting; application of the handicraft to making toys, pillows, clothing and placemats; new approaches to design, with helpful hints on color and placement that will enable the reader to make original designs.

In addition to a detailed explanation of the new techniques developed by the Mountain Artisans, the book features an investigation of the traditional methods of making the old quilts and patchworks, examples of which have found their way into great museum collections.

The Mountain Artisans Quilting Book is the best book on the contemporary adaptation of the old craft of quilting. It is a basic instructional book combining Alfred Allan Lewis's lucid instructions with the Coty-Awart-winning designs created by Dorothy Weatherford for the Mountain Artisans. At the same time, it tells the heart-warming story of the Mountain Artisans: how the famous West Virginia cooperative was started by a group of idealistic young women, amoung them Sharon Percy Rockefeller; how their efforts to market the products of a centuries-old craft overcame seemingly insurmountable obstacles to acheive national recognition and the highest accolate of all, the Coty Award.

The how-to-do-it sections of the book feature photographic step-by-step instructions on: traditional patchwork patterns, stitching, applique, hemming, binding, tufting, basting, tracing, design placement, bordering, quilting, application of the handicraft to making toys, pillows, clothing, and placemats; new approaches to design, with helpful hints on color and placement that will enable the reader to make original designs.

In addition to a detailed explanation of the new techniques developed by the Mountain Artisans, the book features an investigation of the traditional methods of making the old quilts and patchworks, examples of which have found their way into great museum collections.

Serveral years ago I wrote a story about my beloved and beautiful first grade teacher, Mrs. Parker. That experience was almost 50 years ago and my memory of her is fading. I was looking through the index of this wonderful book, "Mountain State Stories of the People" and saw her name. I flipped to that page and was delighted to see a picture of her taken in 1954, the same year I was her student! That picture helped me to recover more memories from that time period in my life. By reading the story "Generations" I learned about her family history and the history of my hometown, Fairmont, WV. I was inspired to continue to read all the 200 plus stories. This wonderful collection of stories is a West Virginia treasure!

Although thin in size and short on text, the images in this book should kindle some memories of the "WeeVee", as she was affectionately known. The ship was certainly not short on heroes, Doris "Dorie" Miller and Mervyn Bennion to name two, in a time when heroes were needed most. From the laying of the keel to the scrapyard, the history of BB-48 (NOT BB-18 as Amazon has listed) is here.

Erynn Marshall is a fiddler who researched West Virginia's fiddle traditions for over a decade in writing this book. She provides a good overview of old-time music in the book's opening chapters. The biographical sketches of important fiddlers from the state are particularly interesting. Her inclusion of several fine women fiddlers results in especially important contributions to the historical record, which expands our understanding of the cultural contexts of fiddling. From this strong background, Marshall then opens up new ground within the research on old-time fiddling by focusing on a wide range of genres that comprise the fiddlers' repertoires. She provides special attention to relationships between instrumental tunes and songs with lyrics. These fiddle-songs have often been regarded as peripheral to the core repertories of fiddlers, but Marshall convincingly demonstrates that they actually constitute a genre that is essential to many fiddlers' musicianship. Her analysis of relationships between these fiddle-songs and the solely instrumental musical forms often identified as "fiddle-tunes" provides a good way to understand how musicians learn tunes as they acquire their repertoires. Her study also demonstrates how a knowledge of these fiddle-songs expands our understanding of the social contexts for music making. The accompanying CD also is a fine addition to this volume, and it is particularly useful for gaining a better understanding of the musical transcriptions that form an important part of this well-written and intriguing study of Appalachian folk music.

This turns out to be an outstanding book and I'm very happy to have it. The text is pleasant to read, written in a friendly and personal way. The pictures are crisp and beautiful, and laid out nicely alongside the text for easy access while reading the description. One outstanding feature is the detailed habitat information based on the author's years of field experience in observing the habitats of each of these orchids. Another stand-out is that the author has done the photography himself, resulting in pictures that support and complement the text very well. I checked several books on orchids and wildflowers while trying to identify an orchid in my forest (which turns out to be a lily-leaved twayblade), and I found this book to be the best. In summary, I'm impressed with this book. I hope it will set a new standard for other books on regional wildflowers.