Appalachia may be the most mythologized and misunderstood place in America, its way of life and inhabitants both caricatured and celebrated in the... mainstream media. Over generations, though, the families living in the mountainous region stretching from West Virginia to northeastern Alabama have forged one of the country's richest and most distinctive cultures, encompassing music, food, architecture, customs, and language.In Appalachian Folkways, geographer John Rehder offers an engaging and enlightening account of southern Appalachia and its cultural milieu that is at once sweeping and intimate. From architecture and traditional livelihoods to beliefs and art, Rehder, who has spent thirty years studying the region, offers a nuanced depiction of southern Appalachia's social and cultural identity. The book opens with an expert consideration of the southern Appalachian landscape, defined by mountains, rocky soil, thick forests, and plentiful streams. While these features have shaped the inhabitants of the region, Rehder notes, Appalachians have also shaped their environment, and he goes on to explore the human influence on the landscape.From physical geography, the book moves to settlement patterns, describing the Indian tribes that flourished before European settlement and the successive waves of migration that brought Melungeon, Scotch-Irish, English, and German settlers to the region, along with the cultural contributions each made to what became a distinct Appalachian culture. Next focusing on the folk culture of Appalachia, Rehder details such cultural expressions as architecture and landscape design; traditional and more recent ways of making a living, both legal and illegal; foodstuffs and cooking techniques; folk remedies and belief systems; music, art, and the folk festivals that today attract visitors from around the world; and the region's dialect. With its broad scope and deep research, Appalachian Folkways accurately and evocatively chronicles a way of life that is fast disappearing.

In 1964, President Lyndon Johnson went to Kentucky's Martin County to declare war on poverty. The following year he signed the Appalachian Regional... Development Act (ARDA), creating a state-federal partnership to improve the region's economic prospects through better job opportunities, greater human capital, and enhanced transportation. As the focal point of domestic antipoverty efforts, Appalachia took on special symbolic and well as economic importance. Nearly a half century later, what are the results?In Appalachian Legacy, prominent economists and demographers map out the region's current status. James Ziliak spearheads the investigation into questions such as: How has Appalachia fared since 1965, and how does it now compare to the nation as a whole, in key areas such as education, employment, and health? Was ARDA an effective place-based policy for ameliorating hardship in a troubled region, or is Appalachia still mired in a poverty trap? And what lessons can we draw from the Appalachian experience?This important research will help analysts, policymakers, scholars, and regional experts discern what works in fighting poverty and why. It is also an important contribution to the economic history of the eastern United States.

Appalachia on Our Mind is not a history of Appalachia. It is rather a history of the American idea of Appalachia. The author argues that the emergence... of this idea has little to do with the realities of mountain life but was the result of a need to reconcile the "otherness" of Appalachia, as decribed by local-color writers, tourists, and home missionaries, with assumptions about the nature of America and American civilization.Between 1870 and 1900, it became clear that the existence of the "strange land and peculiar people" of the southern mountains challenged dominant notions about the basic homogeneity of the American people and the progress of the United States toward achiving a uniform national civilization. Some people attempted to explain Appalachian otherness as normal and natural—no exception to the rule of progress. Others attempted the practical integration of Appalachia into America through philanthropic work. In the twentieth century, however, still other people began questioning their assumptions about the characteristics of American civilization itself, ultimately defining Appalachia as a region in a nation of regions and the mountaineers as a people in a nation of peoples.In his skillful examination of the "invention" of the idea of Appalachia and its impact on American thought and action during the early twentieth century, Mr. Shapiro analyzes the following: the "discovery" of Appalachia as a field for fiction by the local-color writers and as a field for benevolent work by the home missionaries of the northern Protestant churches; the emergence of the "problem" of Appalachia and attempts to solve it through explanation and social action; the articulation of a regionalist definition of Appalachia and the establishment of instituions that reinforced that definition; the impact of that regionalistic definition of Appalachia on the conduct of systematic benevolence, expecially in the context of the debate over child-labor restriction and the transformation of philanthropy into community work; and the attempt to discover the bases for an indigenous mountain culture in handicrafts, folksong, and folkdance.

Technological advances and societal changes fuel the need for up-to-date information and Apparel: Concepts and Practical Applications is designed to... fill that need by examining the many components involved in becoming an expert about apparel.

Our goal for the 4th edition Apparel Manufacturing: Sewn Product Analysis remains the same as it was for the first edition: to provide a broad... conceptual and somewhat theoretical perspective of apparel manufacturing that will serve as a foundation for future apparel professionals. We have consulted professionals, industry trade associations, visited factories in national and international locations, and participated in numerous apparel related conferences and workshops to supplement academic research and personal observations.

Apparel Merchandising: The Line Starts Here, 2nd Edition, is a comprehensive approach toapparel merchandising from the perspective of the apparel... producer. Rosenau and Wilsondraw on their extensive backgrounds in the industry covering men s tailored clothing,men s and women s sportswear and activewear, and children s wear, in both domestic andinternational markets. This text follows the evolution of the merchandising function withemphasis on production efficiency. This entails a focus on product development and thephilosophies and perspectives of industry executives. The authors capture the interfaceof merchandising with the marketing and manufacturing departments and the way thesefunctions integrate in an effective team concept.