Berea College Books

After reading Appalachian Values, I actually have a better understanding of myself and the culture that influenced my life. I was always wondering why I have such different values from people that I work with in other areas. Loyal Jones not only explains our time honored values but instills a sense of pride about a culture that is generally misunderstood due to media portrayal. I have a true sense of pride and understaning of the ways of our culture after reading this book. Beautifully written and photographed.

This book is a warm and truthful view of the people of rural Appalachia. I myself found it full of information and photographs that were very useful. A good read!

"BODY RECALL began with an idea, developed into a nonprofit, nonfranchised program, and has become a joyous nationwide network.
The deep roots of its symbolic tree are faith in God and a profound respect fro His creation, the human body.
That body was designed to move and BODY RECALL is a program of life-giving movement.

Since the first edition of this book barely two decades ago, the BODY RECALL network has spread into forty-five states, trained and certified over a thousand teachers, and involved over thirty thousand people in living life more fully.
By the time this ninth edition is printed, that summary will be an understatement.
The BODY RECALL tree still grows, continues to bear good fruit, and endures as living, giving force."
[from the back of cover]

"Once upon a time it was thought that only participation in vigorous activity would bring physical fitness benefits.
We know now that people can secure physical fitness even if they move slowly.
Slow movement is possible for all people.
The older person does not have to engage in youthful activity to acquire physical fitness.

Physical fitness for all ages should be a matter of self-management.
Movement is a must for all.
It is life-giving, but it must be safe while it is helpful.
Those who move must take the responsibility for moving wisely and with comfort.
Exercise should not produce pain, strain, exhaustion and injury.

The vigorous games of our youth were vehicles to provide physical fitness values for the participant.
Most of us keep the image of the gymnasium experience in mind when we contemplate getting back some of the benefits we have lost.
In youth we did not learn about exercise programs for life.
It is a mistake to believe that only those who have a surplus of energy can seek and find fitness.
Bodies need to be active.
The heart patient, the arthritic, the lame, the blind and the aged are no exception.

The exercises contained in this volume show and describe movement that is beneficial for those who move slowly or who wish to gain physical fitness benefits without the negative by-products of a rigorous routime.

May this work contain an approach to exercise that will INSPIRE YOU TO MOVE!"
[from the book of preface]

I read this book for a paper I wrote on dialects in the Southern Appalachians. Being a mountain girl myself, I was very interested in the book until I actually read it. It is the most offensive "study" I have ever come across. Granted, from a linguistic perspective, I am not used to such highly subjective studies, but I really did not see the need for the sweeping generalizations and incredulity that Williams provides in this book. "Mountain folk" try to delude outsiders with their unoriginal speech (that they think is highly clever)? Who does that?

There is also an entire chapter on manners, and Williams is downright shocked that these people teach their children to say "please" and "thank you." I'm not sure about other parts of the country, but I thought that was standard politeness. Here is a choice quotation from the beginning of the book: "Contractions, elisions, and telescopings unfamiliar to the cultured outsider . . . produce a poetic quality similar to that of folk epics and the quaint relics of primitive people." As a scholar, I have been taught that no one is primitive, and for a fellow scholar to make such an outlandish claim is just so offensive.

Steer clear of this book.

Cratis D. Williams has assembled notes upon notes taken from lectures and studies of the appalacian people over the course of his life in kentucky academia and from them came this book, out of Berea University Press, or whatever its called. Highly recommened reading if you're even slightly interested in mountain speech. You'll be amused and laugh for hours on end but may want to take a breather in between as this assortment is rather concentrated in its humour and slang of the appalacian peoples. 4.8 stars