No lonesome road : selected prose and poems / Don West ; edited by Jeff Biggers and George Brosi.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

West, Don.

Contributor:

Biggers, Jeff, 1963-

Brosi, George.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Mountain life--Appalachian Region, Southern.

Mountain life.

Mountain life--Poetry.

Appalachian Region, Southern--Poetry.

Appalachian Region, Southern.

Appalachian Region, Southern--Civilization.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (279 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Urbana : University of Illinois Press, c2004.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

This is the first book to celebrate the life and writing of one of the most charismatic Southern leaders of the middle twentieth century, Don West (1906-1992). West was a poet, a pioneer advocate for civil rights, a preacher, a historian, a labor organizer, a folk-music revivalist, an essayist, and an organic farmer. He is perhaps best known as an educator, primarily as cofounder of the Highlander Folk School in Tennessee and founder of the Appalachian South Folklife Center in West Virginia. In his old age, West served as an elder statesman for his causes. No Lonesome Road allows Don West to speak for himself. It provides the most comprehensive collection of his poetry ever published, spanning five decades of his literary career. It also includes the first comprehensive and annotated collection of West's nonfiction essays, articles, letters, speeches, and stories, covering his role at the forefront of Southern and Appalachian history, and as a pioneer researcher and writer on the South's little-known legacy of radical activism.Drawing from both primary and secondary sources, including previously unknown documents, correspondence, interviews, FBI files, and newspaper clippings, the introduction by Jeff Biggers stands as the most thorough, insightful biographical sketch of Don West yet published in any form.The afterword by George Brosi is a stirring personal tribute to the contributions of West and also serves as a thoughtful reflection on the interactions between the radicals of the 1930s and the 1960s.The best possible introduction to his extraordinary life and work, this annotated selection of Don West's writings will be inspirational reading for anyone interested in Southern history, poetry, religion, or activism.

Contents:

""Cover""; ""Title Page ""; ""contents""; ""acknowledgments""; ""introduction""; ""selected prose""; ""clods of southern earth: introduction (1946)""; ""the first jew i ever met and the devil�s den (1985)""; ""hard times cotton mill girls (1979)""; ""harry harrison kroll: an essay (1986)""; ""knott county, kentucky: a study (1932)""; ""sweatshops in the schools (1933)""; ""georgia wanted me dead or alive (1934)""; ""let freedom ring (1936)""; ""thoughts of a kentucky miner (1936)""; ""tobe-boy (1940)""; ""dreams (1944)""; ""georgia crisis (1947)""; ""speaking of the poet (1951)""

""we southerners have a rendezvous with destiny (1956)""""the death of old major (1966)""; ""jesus, the quiet revolutionary (1967)""; ""romantic appalachia; or, poverty pays if you ain�t poor (1969)""; ""people�s cultural heritage in appalachia (1971)""; ""robert tharin: biography of a mountain abolitionist (ca. 1970)""; ""in a land of plenty: no copyright (1982�85)""; ""selected poems""; ""from crab-grass (1931)""; ""from deep, deep down in living (n.d.)""; ""from between the plow handles (1932)""; ""from toil and hunger (1940)""; ""from clods of southern earth (1946)""

""from the road is rocky (1951)""""from o mountaineers! (1974)""; ""from in a land of plenty (1982�85)""; ""afterword""; ""notes to the prose and poems""; ""a don west bibliography""; ""index""

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Description based on print version record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. xliv-xlviii) and index.

ISBN:

9780252092831

025209283X

OCLC:

846496620