Miller, D: An American Vein Critical Readings in Appalachian Literature

"An American Vein succeeds where many southern scholarly studies fail, by considering the work of [Lee] Smith, [Fred] Chappell, and a host of other writers, living and dead, as embodiments of the mountain cultures that produced them. . . . The book's content is highly varied, rich, and sturdy." (The Sewanee Review) "It's not often that a collection of literary criticism this solid, comprehensive, and comprehensible appears." (Journal of Appalachian Studies) "From Cratis Williams's classic study The Southern Mountaineer in Fact and Fiction to contemporary scholarship on ecocriticism, this impressive collection of essays provides an important, though too long neglected, part of American literary history. This book effectively gives Appalachian literature the serious attention it deserves." "The overall thrust of the anthology is to present Appalachian literature afresh, and to point out its centrality to American literature as a whole while establishing it as a legitimate regional literature. The editors acknowledge that no single work can accomplish all this, but An American Vein is a strong beginning and an excellent introduction to an underappreciated vein of literature." (Rocky Mountain Review)