West Virginia Books

Reading this book is like making a new acquaintance whom you're at first just curious about but in no time find yourself fiercely in love with. Life in small-town and hill-country Appalachia in the 50's and 60's is recounted with such humor, affection and deep understanding, and with such telling detail, that it becomes a bit of our own history. And the journey of Blair Ellen through the tumult of adolescence to the cusp of maturity is one we have all taken, regardless of time and place. This happens to be the first of a trilogy (I inadvertently read the last first with no impairment to my enjoyment) and after finishing each volume, I felt like Oliver Twist crying for more! more!`

I bought this book years ago when I first visited Reno, Nevada and Virginia City's Comstock mines. Years have passed and I'm buying again because of all the books every written on the Comstock, this book has it all. If you want to know what it really was like in those mines, read this book.

great historic overview of West Virginia's foremost Agricultural College. This book is writen by one of the finest professors at WVU.

Best of the "Big Three" of WV History. This is an important/must have Genealogical and Historical Resource, Names people and Places with many details of living conditions. It is easy reading and does not get bogged down with statistics. Clean History with a personal touch in the various family stories. This book will open many doors to further research and much is taken from personal journals.

The storied Valley of Virginia (also known as the Appalachian Valley) is bounded by the Blue Ridge on the east and, for most of its length, by the West Virginia border on the west. The Valley follows the 360-mile course of the Potomac River from about Harper's Ferry, where the Valley's width is 35 miles, to the Tennessee line in the south, where it extends in width to 100 miles. Samuel Kercheval's history of the Valley of Virginia, published originally in 1909, concentrates upon this region from 1732 through the Revolutionary War. Most of the Valley's original colonial settlers were Pennsylvanians like Joist Hite, who, with his family and sons-in-law, settled in the vicinity of Winchester, Virginia. Hite's exploits--like those of Benjamin Allen, Jacob Stoever, John and Isaac Vanmeter, and numerous others--are sketched in detail in Kercheval's meandering narrative. Also covered in substantial detail are the settlements and customs of the indigenous peoples of the region, such as the Catawbas and Delawares, whose lives were forever altered by the aforementioned newcomers.

By 1754, on the eve of the French and Indian War, German and Scotch-Irish settlement of the Valley had become so widespread as to rouse the ire of the native peoples. Indeed, the raids, massacres, and fateful conflicts that would decide future control of the Valley, such as Lord Dunmore's War, comprise fully half of the author's writings, a number of which were reconstructed from interviews with descendants of the pioneers who took part in various depredations. The balance of the work describes life on the frontier, especially housing, furniture, and diet; the establishment of towns like Strasburg, Staunton, Romney, Harper's Ferry, and Morgantown; the inception of religious denominations, topography, and natural landmarks; and medicinal springs and other remedies.

Incorporated into A History of the Valley of Virginia, it should be noted, is an early edition of Notes on the Settlement and Indian Wars of the Western Parts of Virginia and Pennsylvania [1763-1783]..., by the Reverend Dr. Joseph Doddridge, which covers similar terrain. Kercheval has also included a detailed discussion of Bacon's Rebellion of the 17th century in his Introduction, and a chapter on the founding of Virginia's Northern Neck in the body of the work.

This is a great early history book on Tucker Co. WV.Check it out!!

This book was written at the turn of the century as is packed full of very interesting subject matter concerning Wetzel county, West Virginia and the surrounding area.
It covers the Jennings Gang and the little known Indian mounds that were located along the Ohio river in New Martinsville.
I highly recommend this book.

Set in America during the Civil War (and with a side look at Scotland), Horizons West by Harold G. Ross is the story of the Ross clan being caught in the national rift that precipitated years of blood and misery, turning brother against brother over questions of ideas, idealism, loyalties and politics. Written with a distinctively Old West flavor, and deftly presenting a harsh and tragic view of America's internal conflict, Horizons West is a powerful, emotional, compelling, original, and highly recommended narrative to anyone who enjoys the kind of historical novel that simply grips the reader's total attention from first page to last.

In contrast to the numerous histories of West Virginia, Mr. Curry challenges conventional wisdom head-on. Though this book has been available for over 40 years, Civil War historians continue to write WV history from biased and unresearched sources. The most valuable aspect of this book is his detailed account of the county votes in key elections, the Ordinance of Secession vote on May 23 1861, the Statehood referendum of October 24 1861, and the vote on the Willey Amendment of March 26 1863. He details the position of John Carlile, the single-most important figure of statehood, who started the ball rolling and yet did all he could to stop it, even voting against the West Virginia statehood bill in his position as US Senator from Virginia. This book, along with McGregor's "Disruption of Virginia", are required reading for all West Virginians.

This is a valuable book (resource) for budding entrepreneurs. It seems to try to cover all the bases for starting a small business, but it can't do them all well in the space available between its covers. The book is only 288 pages long. If you are in the planning stages of starting a small business, then I highly recommend you get a copy of this book. Read it, study it, and outline it. There are helpful checklists to help you grasp the subjects. You will come up with a plethora of keywords and terms that you will want to google to find Web pages giving more detailed (and maybe more current) information.

I am a SCORE counselor (Senior Corps of Retired Executives) who typically does face-to-face counseling sessions three nights a month. It would really be neat if my clients would read this book BEFORE they came to their session with me because they would pretty much be "educated customers" ready to ask educated questions. Our sessions would be so much more beneficial.

My favorite chapters were:

1. Initial business concerns
2. Your business' structure
3. Business start-up details
5. Sources of business assistance (SCORE is mentioned here)
7. Your smart business plan (and a good sample plan is included)
8. Obtaining the financing you need

The book is weak when it comes to how the Internet can be used in corresponding, hiring, and marketing. But this is just one example of how googling keywords and concepts found in the book will make the book more complete. Don't treat the book as authoritative on the law. It isn't. Nor was it ever intended to be. It is light on tax information as it relates to small business.

I was particularly impressed with the material presented in Chapter 2: Choice of Legal Entity. That subject is sorely ignored in most small business books, and it is critically important. It is a subject I regularly must spend a great deal of time discussing at my SCORE sessions. This book does a pretty good job on the topic.

Chapters 4 and 9 through 12 are easy to find fault with. The topic of each could fill a book. But having these topics covered definitely will help a budding entrepreneur know some of the issues they raise.

I would have liked the book more if Chapter 6 (marketing) had been less superficial. When I read it I got the impression that the author was more a public relations expert than a marketing expert. I generally categorize public relations as a subset of marketing. Marketing includes advertising, public relations, and a whole host of other promotion techniques. I did not get this message when I read the book. I also would have liked the book better if the Internet, email, and Web sites had been discussed more. But there are many books on those subjects. Therefore, I can't complain too much about the limited discussion of computers.

When you read this book it may feel a little like it was produced on an assembly line. Maybe it was? There are 51 versions of this book sold; one for each state and the District of Columbia. Content is king, and this book has it. 5 stars!