Back Yonder: An Ozark Chronicle

by Charles Wayman Hogue, Brooks Blevins (Editor)

Wayman Hogue’s stories of growing up in the Ozarks, according to a 1932 review in the New York Times, “brilliantly illuminate mountain life to its very heart and in its most profound aspects.” A standout among the Ozarks literature that was popular during the Great Depression, this memoir of life in rural Arkansas in the decades following the Civil War has since been forgotten by all but a few students of Arkansas history and folklore. Back Yonder is a special book. Hogue, like his contemporary Laura Ingalls Wilder, weaves a narrative of a family making its way in rugged, impoverished, and sometimes violent places. From one-room schoolhouses to moonshiners, the details in this story capture the essence of a particular time and place, even as the characters reflect a universal quality that will endear them to modern readers. Historian Brooks Blevins’s new introduction explores the life of Charles Wayman Hogue, analyzes the people and events that inspired the book, and places the volume in the context of America’s discovery of the Ozarks in the years between the World Wars. The University of Arkansas Press is proud to reissue  Back Yonder  as the first book in the

330 pages, Paperback

Published January 5, 2016

Reviews

[Debra · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fun read, but the intoductions, one by the author at original publication and one for the reprint, have confused me. The author maintains that this is a faithful account of his growing up in the Ozarks. The newer introduction offers evidence that the author never lived in the Ozarks, but with no reason why, insists this is still a valid description of living in the Ozatks at that time. Regardless, it is an entertaining read.

[Tom Barber · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this many years ago and it wasn't easy to track it down. I believe this is the book I read about 30 years ago! If indeed this is it, it is an amazing memoir of life in the Ozarks. I remember very long walks to school and learning about noodling (fishing with your thumb as a lure). It's a wonderful book.