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My Appalachia: A Reminiscence
In words and pictures, here is Appalachia—as it once was, and as it is now.
Rebecca Caudill grew up in Appalachia. In a moving personal narrative, without bitterness or polemic, this distinguished author quietly tells the story of a remarkable region of the United States.
There are no statistics, no catalogings of misery in My Appalachia. Miss Caudill simply tells the story of how it was when she grew up, when the snow was still clean, before the mines came, before the bitterness and bloodshed began. Poverty is a book word when the poor don't know they are poor, and in Appalachia, pride and dignity filled a half-empty stomach. Miss Caudill's father rode off once a year to bring back books to teach her to read; she crossed a swaying foot-bridge over the river on the way to school; she listened to her father tell stories; she learned why he never owned a gun for self-defense (although everyone else did) and she watched her mother quilt, and sew, and paper the walls with pictures cut out from McCall's magazine.
From such warm detail comes the sense of what has died in Appalachia, and the terrible sense of what it was like for Miss Caudill to return, years later, to find desolation.
The countryside of this region, scarred, piled with refuse, but still defiantly beautiful, has been photographed by Edward Wallowitch. He has captured not only the landscape, but its people, their miseries and their joys. Straightforward and eloquent, this is as close as the outsider gets to Appalachia.
Rebecca Caudill grew up in Appalachia. In a moving personal narrative, without bitterness or polemic, this distinguished author quietly tells the story of a remarkable region of the United States.
There are no statistics, no catalogings of misery in My Appalachia. Miss Caudill simply tells the story of how it was when she grew up, when the snow was still clean, before the mines came, before the bitterness and bloodshed began. Poverty is a book word when the poor don't know they are poor, and in Appalachia, pride and dignity filled a half-empty stomach. Miss Caudill's father rode off once a year to bring back books to teach her to read; she crossed a swaying foot-bridge over the river on the way to school; she listened to her father tell stories; she learned why he never owned a gun for self-defense (although everyone else did) and she watched her mother quilt, and sew, and paper the walls with pictures cut out from McCall's magazine.
From such warm detail comes the sense of what has died in Appalachia, and the terrible sense of what it was like for Miss Caudill to return, years later, to find desolation.
The countryside of this region, scarred, piled with refuse, but still defiantly beautiful, has been photographed by Edward Wallowitch. He has captured not only the landscape, but its people, their miseries and their joys. Straightforward and eloquent, this is as close as the outsider gets to Appalachia.
- GenresHistory
90 pages, Hardcover
First published June 1, 1966
2 people are currently reading
43 people want to read
About the author
Rebecca Caudill
34 books29 followersAmerican's children writer, as well as teacher and editor, known for her Appalachian fiction. Caudill graduated from Wesleyan College and, in 1922, received her master's degree from Vanderbilt University. She taught English in high school and college, and worked briefly as an editor. She moved to Urbana, Illinois, when she married James Ayars in 1931.
Caudill's book, Tree of Freedom, was a Newbery Honor Book in 1950. A Pocketful of Cricket was a Caldecott Honor Book.
The schoolchildren of her adopted state of Illinois vote each year on their favorite book. The winning book is given the Rebecca Caudill Young Reader's Book Award (RCYRBA) named in honor of Caudill and her contributions to Appalachian literature.
Caudill's book, Tree of Freedom, was a Newbery Honor Book in 1950. A Pocketful of Cricket was a Caldecott Honor Book.
The schoolchildren of her adopted state of Illinois vote each year on their favorite book. The winning book is given the Rebecca Caudill Young Reader's Book Award (RCYRBA) named in honor of Caudill and her contributions to Appalachian literature.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 6, 2020
Rebecca Caudill, an author known for her children's books and literature award in her name, wrote an interesting memoir about her life in the Kentucky Appalachia region in 1966. Born in 1899, Caudill reminiscences about her family's life in Poor Fork (now named Cumberland) and how the region has changed since her family left in the early 1900s. Her remaining growing up years were in eastern Tennessee and as a married woman had settled in Illinois, but her heart remained in Kentucky, so in her later years she and her husband would travel back to the Appalachian region regularly. She then documents how the area has changed dramatically due to many issues such as limited education, welfare becoming available and the devastation that strip-mining was wrecking on the environment and economy. She was quite nostalgic that during her childhood everything had been perfect and everyone was kind, thrifty and proud and now society had taken a turn for the worse. I found it interesting that she bemoaned her present day, but now 50+ years after this book was written, many modern-day people probably look back at the 60s as a perfect time.
Because my mother's family originally was from Kentucky, I have an interest in the Appalachian area and am a fan of writers Silas House, Sharyn McCrumb and Sheila Kay Adams who share stories about the region, so Caudill's non-fiction book has added another layer. It was sobering to read how strip-mining has been such an issue for so long, and sadly how it continues to this day despite the destruction it continues to weld. I do wish the photographs by Edward Wallowitch had been in color and printed in better quality, as details were not clear in his nature pictures, although his B&W portraits of people were evocative.
Because my mother's family originally was from Kentucky, I have an interest in the Appalachian area and am a fan of writers Silas House, Sharyn McCrumb and Sheila Kay Adams who share stories about the region, so Caudill's non-fiction book has added another layer. It was sobering to read how strip-mining has been such an issue for so long, and sadly how it continues to this day despite the destruction it continues to weld. I do wish the photographs by Edward Wallowitch had been in color and printed in better quality, as details were not clear in his nature pictures, although his B&W portraits of people were evocative.
April 21, 2020
I grabbed My Appalachia a few years ago when it was weeded from our school library. It’s been on my TBR pile since. After reading The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek, I could feel My Appalachia calling to me. After reading Richardson’s fictionalized novel of the region, I was ready to see what more I could learn from Caudill.
I found Caudill’s account an excellent companion to BWoTC. Caudill’s discussion and tour through her childhood in Poor Fork, Kentucky, to her study of educational, economic, and political conditions of the region were direct and illuminative.
I found Caudill’s account an excellent companion to BWoTC. Caudill’s discussion and tour through her childhood in Poor Fork, Kentucky, to her study of educational, economic, and political conditions of the region were direct and illuminative.
August 12, 2023
Nobody forced farmers to sell their mineral rights and timber rights for a pittance. Nobody forced them them shop on credit at the company store.
Just as today nobody forces you to take fentanyl and become a pillbilly or an alcoholic.
You are responsible-and no one else-if all you do is give in to temptation every single time.
This is why greed is traditionally classifed as one of the 7 deadly sins, and why you're supposed to learn to be responsible and stop making self-destructive descisions.
Just as today nobody forces you to take fentanyl and become a pillbilly or an alcoholic.
You are responsible-and no one else-if all you do is give in to temptation every single time.
This is why greed is traditionally classifed as one of the 7 deadly sins, and why you're supposed to learn to be responsible and stop making self-destructive descisions.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews