Pride and Sorrow: Shanksville, Pennsylvania and the Aftermath of September 11
by Janet Frank Atkinson

When United Flight 93 crashed, it plummeted into an abandoned coal mine in a small Appalachian Pennsylvania community. The townspeople are struggling to find comfort themselves while consoling the victims’ families.

Read an excerpt.

In Search of the Fugate Family of Lost Creek, Kentucky
by Robert Liftig

Back in the early 1970s, a young man from Connecticut asks a simple question about his Eastern Kentucky bride’s family history. Getting a simple answer takes decades.

Going Global
by Margaret Lynn Brown

The staff of an Elkins, W.Va., office helps to coordinate a web site, The Mountain Forum, that grew out of the U.N.’s 1992 Conference on Environment. The site aims to create a global community of scholars, policymakers, and mountain people everywhere.

In Italy, the poor are often regarded as saintly. In Appalachia, being poor is almost a sin. An Italian explores why these differences in perspective exist and how they affect people’s lives.

As Desert Shield turns into Desert Storm, a Lebanese man fears his East Tennessee neighbors will try to make him pay for the evil perpetrated by the Husseins and bin Ladins of the world.

Read an excerpt.

Southwest Virginia-native and novelist Lee Smith remembers the bad old days when for Appalachians “getting culture” meant leaving home.

Read an excerpt.

An Appalachian abroad finds himself reading an English reporter’s account of life in Eastern Kentucky, a land of dull inbred children and dope dealers.

“‘Here’s the city slicker,’ Pappy growls. I can’t remember ever touching him while my grandmother was alive, but now I walk across the pitted linoleum to kiss his cheek. There is no dough rising or turkey being trussed, no sign of food at all, except a loose pile of red peppers from the garden spilling lazily across the countertop like unracked billiard balls. …”

“The Webster reaches into what is probably one of the last cans of Copenhagen snuff on the continent and puts a three-finger chew between his cheek and gum. He spits into the icy water, the fine, black snuff granules swirling in the current. ...”

Jealous by Marilyn Kallet

How to Play an Appalachian Dulcimer by Margaret Shipley

Luminous Departure by Dan Stryk

October 2001 by Connie Jordan Green

Offering, Day of the Dead by Jason Pettigrew

Pilgrim of Gray Mist by Ryan G. Van Cleave

Lunch at the Chinese-Italian Restaurant by Cathy Lentes

Self Analysis: Freud in Western Kentucky by Michael Baker

Cape Verde Comes to Carolina by Leslie M. LaChanc

This Rock by Robert Morgan, reviewed by Michael Croley

At Home in the Heart of Appalachia by John O’Brien, reviewed by Jessica R. Faught

The Serpent Handlers: Three Families and Their Faith by Fred Brown and Jeanne McDonald, reviewed by Bob Dunston

In Brief by Marianne Worthington

Back in Print by Marianne Worthington

Photo and illustration credits (from the top):Janet Frank Atkinson, courtesy of Robert and Inez Liftig, The Mountain Institute, Charles Hardy III, Nancy Fischman, Mercury Records, Nancy Taylor, Anita DuFalla, Nancy Fischman, Alexis Close, Alfred A. Knopf. Images may not be reproduced without permission.

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