Tennessee Books

Is it real? Did Harmony really fall from the stars into the chicken coop? Does she really have ESP? Did she really save the "Old People" from the logging company? It's all magic, and beautifully written, including desire and wishes and the beauty of the stars and heaven and nature and love and caring and, well, you make your wishes and see what happens!
This book is a jewel.

Such a wonderful, thoughtful book to read. Harmony, A girl with a breliant way of life..an amazing presonality and a great view to life. i like Rita murphy and her type of writing her books, such a book. poeple with a goal in life and a very strong feeling with there spirte, are willing to read this book. the book amazed me and probubly Rita Murphy will be my Writter.

The events surrounding Hawk's Nest is possibly one of the sadest events in American history. This book captures in detail those events in a profoundly moving and real fashion. Following the lives of the men, women, and children who lived to see a their lives turn into a nightmare, Skidmore paints a picture of hope, fear, and desperation. Skidmore's extensive understanding of the people and the events along with his magnificent story telling make this book a classic in every sense of the word. This is one of the few books I have ever recomended for family and friends and I cannot recomend it enough.

My mother was born and raised 15 miles "up the road" from the location of this event. She was in high school at the time the tunnel was being built. She did not know anything about this. The people in the story were invisible, even to most locals. How is it possible? It is one of the best books I have ever read. Anyone, anywhere, could read this book and never, ever forget it. I recommend it without hesitation to people who care about the human condition. You will not be able to put it down. It is unbelievable and sad.

Absolutely the best source of material on hiking Big South Fork. Couple this with the Trails Illustrated map and you have everything you need but the ambition, and you'll need plenty of that.

This is perhaps the sine qua non of trail guides. You will be able to explore the Big South Fork with comfort and ease using Deavers book. If you want day hikes or more challenging distance hikes, this book will help you make your plans. Trail sections are thouroughly explained. Interesting information about the geology and cultural history abound.

"The best photographic book of the Grand Ole Opry. A must have for the country music lover."

This wonderful photojournal is for the reader who wishes to follow along in a photo album, having a good time remembering the days of the "true" country sound, belted out by some great country artists. No make-up artists for these pictures, shown just as it really happened, on and off the stage, with many of the people you grew to love on the radio and TV. Many scenes from the dressing rooms as they rehearsed, and you can even see the sweat on their brows in some photographs, for the Ryman did not have AC. This is a great collector's edition, and every fan of the true country sound will find it a delightful addition to their library.
I highly recommend this wonderful book. I worked there during these years, as an usherette, and it is just like it looked when it happened.
The longest aired radio program in the world spent many years in this wonderful old tabernacle. ENJOY!
Nancy Turner Brown

This book was awsome. I love Dale Hollow lake and it was cool to try a find all the things that are in this book while I was there. Great book I recommend it for all!

This book was really interesting and gave a good, well-rounded view of Dale Hollow Lake. The authors' passion on the subject is easily contagious after reading the book. Experiencing Dale Hollow is the best way to get the true feel, but if you can't be there, then reading this book is the next best thing!

This book collects most of the written material available and includes actual person-to-person contact to document the Primitive Baptist Universalist church in Central Appalachia. Well-researched and well-written, this book describes a religious group that is remarkable for its openness and extreme forgiveness in a region traditionally viewed as fundamentalist, crude, and harsh. Readers must wade through excessive detail at times but if they persevere, the detail helps to color in the shades of this unique group.

In the Hands of a Happy God is a superb introduction to a kinder view of religion and especially of the doctrine of atonement. Dr. Dorgan, in an easy-to-read but quite scholarly way, shows how the notion of universal salvation enlivens a religious view that can be rather dreadful. He shows how it works in the very real lives of people who live in the Appalachian culture.

This is a must-read for anyone who has an interest in culture and religion.

Book in great condition and the price saved me lots of money. This is a required textbook for many Theatre Arts programs around the country.

I am lucky enough to know one of the authors, and have been able to study this book in his class. I loved the class, and loved the book.

In Keep Swinging, Jay Myers tells a story that everyone aspiring to be an entrepreneur should read. With gripping detail, he describes the real life challenges that can (and often do) face those who step up to the plate in business, and the essential qualities required to overcome them. A home run!


Bill Catlette
co-author, Contented Cows MOOve Faster

"Author Jay Myers uses a conversational tone to detail his personal experience as an entrepreneur in his new book Keep Swinging: An Entrepreneur's Story of Overcoming Adversity and Achieving Small Business Success

Keep Swinging is a little different than most books on this topic because Myers shies away from explaining all of his good decisions and instead focuses on some of the mistakes he has made and the pitfalls he has faced. Stories of a poor business plan, a misguided buyout, and an embezzlement crisis all blend together to create a compelling tale that reads more like a fiction book.

At the same time, Keep Swinging offers solid business lessons and advice that any entrepreneurs could put to good use. Myers also touches on subjects like home life, family support, continuing education, and community involvement.

The book is only 157 pages, but it includes a lot of valuable information and entertainment value to boot. I would highly recommend Keep Swinging to any entrepreneur who wants to read about both the highs and lows of owning a business."
- Karen Schweitzer,
Your Guide to Business School.

This book is outstanding. A collection of stories, it reads more like a novel. Ruth, who might be referred to as the main character, is a survivor. But what makes her different, what makes her compelling, is the complexity of her responses to pain. Unwilling to let those who hurt her control her, she takes her own pain hostage, showing it, as it were, who is in charge.

These stories are not about victimization; they are about the high price of rejecting the idea of victimization. Ruth gets hurt, yes. But her responses to pain are the responses of an organism. Her survival -- and indeed this is precisely what it is -- is survival in the most Darwinian terms: Ruth survives by adapting -- not by running away.

There is triumph here, redemption in Ruth's fear of fear. This book is not so much a book to be read as a book to keep on reading.

Sylvia Foley's Life in the Air Ocean is a quick read in that it grabs you and won't let go. But layered and exact observations about the inner life and its consequent actions reward the careful reader. Her precise, beautiful writing captures the moments across years that make up a family history -- not the public one, but a private, under-the-skin history.

Another excellent work by Jack Neely

As a regular reader of "Colonel" Jack Neely in MetroPulse (Knoxville's alternative newspaper) and one who appreciated his previous volumes, Knoxville's Secret History I and II, I eagerly awaited this book. If you are interested in East Tennessee history and the people who made it--"Parson" Brownlow, Paul Y. Anderson, Lloyd Branson, the McClungs, General William Caswell, Joseph Mabry, Captain William Rule, Thomas O'Conner, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Edward T. Sanford, Calvin Johnson, the Bethel Cemetery, blues singer and composer Ida Cox, James Agee's father, Frances Hodgson Burnett's mother and many others--you need this book. Many of the gravesites are in Knoxville's Old Gray Cemetery. Take this book and visit the cemetery and revisit East Tennessee History and those who made it. The photographs are also outstanding! Highly recommended!