In this breathtaking collection of stories, celebrated author and poet Robert Morgan portrays the lives and history of a strong-limbed, strong-willed people: the settlers of the Blue Ridge Mountains a
In this breathtaking collection of stories, celebrated author and poet Robert Morgan portrays the lives and history of a strong-limbed, strong-willed people: the settlers of the Blue Ridge Mountains and their descendants.
In this breathtaking collection of stories, celebrated author and poet Robert Morgan portrays the lives and history of a strong-limbed, strong-willed people: the settlers of the Blue Ridge Mountains and their descendants.
Struggling to survive in an ancient mountain landscape that alternately thwarts their efforts and infuses them with joy and vitality, Morgan's people undergo the transition from the Indian skirmishes of the post-Revolutionary War era to the trailer parks of the present day. With one eye on the land itself and the other on its inhabitants, Morgan poignantly portrays a history of change, of transformation in the landscape, in humanity's relationship to the earth, and in people's relationships with each other. His intimate knowledge of the region he portrays makes this collection a valuable social history. At the same time, Morgan offers a moving theme which is universal and eternal-the majestic immutability of the earth and the heroic human struggle to live, love, and create new life.
Focusing on one people in one place, Morgan addresses the themes that matter to all people in all places: birth and death, love and loss, joy and sorrow, the necessity for remembrance, and the inevitability of forgetting.
"...Morgan brings authenticity to the varied periods he describes, and he gifts his characters with seeming spontaneity and depth...." ?Publishers Weekly
"The 11 short stories in this thoughtful collection comprise a history of and a ringing hymn to life in the Blue Ridge Mountains." ?Southern Living
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ROBERT MORGAN is a professor of English at Cornell University and the author of two collections of short stories, The Blue Valleys and The Mountains Won't Remember Us, as well as several novels and volumes of poetry. Morgan grew up on a small farm in the North Carolina mountains. He is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship.
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