Briefly Noted | Chapter 16

Moonshiners and Prohibitionists: The Battle over Alcohol in Southern Appalachia

Bruce E. Stewart

University Press of Kentucky
344 pages
$50.00

In Moonshiners and Prohibitionists: The Battle over Alcohol in Southern Appalachia, Bruce E. Stewart chronicles the social tensions that accompanied the region’s early transition from a rural to an urban-industrial economy. Stewart analyzes the dynamic relationship of the bootleggers and opponents of liquor sales in western North Carolina, as well as conflict driven by social and economic development that manifested in political discord. A welcome addition to the New Directions in Southern History series, Moonshiners and Prohibitionists addresses major economic, social, and cultural questions that are essential to the understanding of Appalachian history.

–From the Publisher

Little Sam Mountain

Charles Fletcher

Parkway Publisher
164 pages
$19.95

Little Sam Mountain follows the life of John Dowdy as he grows up in the mountains of Western North Carolina during the Great Depression. Like so many mountain people, the Dowdys experience great poverty, but they are patriotic and eager to enlist when World War II breaks out. The novel follows John Dowdy as he leaves his sweetheart, Sarah, and his family to go to Europe to fight. When he returns after the war and sees the dramatic changes that have occurred, he is forced to reassess his plans for a life on Little Sam Mountain.

–From the Publisher

The Healer Book 1: The Phantom Limb

Ja Man

Mutant Horse LLC
288 pages
$13.95

For years he wandered alone in search of work, digging in the dark corners of the galaxy for pain and suffering ignored by the Healing Order. Then the terraformers hired him. Sure, their reputation as brutal fringe dwellers recommended against it, but the work was easy and the pay outstanding. So he was told. Soon enough, he realized that he had hired onto a dirty mission and he’d be lucky to get out alive. But death wasn’t the worst outcome. The secret power of healers had awoken in him, and now he faced the struggle against his phantom limb of power––a forbidden power that threatened to destroy him.

–From the Publisher

The Invasion Year: An Alan Lewrie Naval Adventure

Dewey Lambdin

Thomas Dunne Books
368 pages
$25.99

“Newcomers to the series will delight in Lambdin’s expert deployment of period detail; his mastery of the details of life on a 19th-century frigate; and the irresistible Captain Alan Lewrie himself. A pleasant blend of light humor, drama and cracking historical naval action.”

—Kirkus Reviews

Bean Blossom: The Brown County Jamboree and Bill Monroe's Bluegrass Festivals

Thomas Adler

University of Illinois Press
288 pages
$24.95

“Bean Blossom seems to be the ideal subject for an extended historical study such as this. Loaded with facts and details, the unfolding story is so interesting and engrossing. I read it with delighted recognition and remembrance.”

–John Wright, author of Traveling the High Way Home: Ralph Stanley and the World of Traditional Bluegrass Music

House of Cleaving

Melissa Newman

Whiskey Creek Press
350 pages
$16.99

As a means to escape painful memories Annie attempts to sell the old Cleaving house, leaving the only home she has ever known. Only then she discovers the botched deed and her only choice, to find her mother’s siblings and convince each to release their claims.From crazy Aunt Veda, who thinks a televangelist is sending her secret love messages, to Uncle Asher who has given up his Wall Street career and joined a hippie commune, Annie is thrust into a bizarre new world where it seems the Cleaving family history has been altered.

–From the Publisher