Traces the history of the Cumberland region of eastern Kentucky and reports on present social and economic conditions

Night Comes to the Cumberlands: A Biography of a Depressed Area

Harry M. Caudill

Literature & Fiction

Little. Brown and Company

The author of Night Comes To the Cumberlands documents the devastation of his native Appalachian hills. Well-illustrated with photos. Praised by Robert Coles.

My Land is Dying

E. P. Dutton and Co.

Slender is the Thread: Tales From a Country Law Office

History

Americas

University Press of Kentucky

Night Comes to the Cumberlands: A Biography of a Depressed Area (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from Night Comes to the Cumberlands: A Biography of a Depressed Area Although Caudill has called his book A Biography of a Depressed Area, it is also the story of what other parts of America might have been, if we had not developed a land ethic and formulated a system atic conservation program. Ironically, not far away from the dark and bloody ground Of the Cumberland Plateau is the Tennessee Valley Authority, the nation's highest benchmark in land use and regional planning Of resources. But a few years ago the Congress drew a wall around tva, and its proximity only serves now to dramatize the contrast between the social health and well-being that accompany wise development of resources, and the poverty of land and Spirit that can occur in absence of such planning. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Forgotten Books

Excerpt from Night Comes to the Cumberlands: A Biography of a Depressed AreaAlthough Caudill has called his book A Biography of a Depressed Area, it is also the story of what other parts of America might have been, if we had not developed a land ethic and formulated a system atic conservation program. Ironically, not far away from the dark and bloody ground Of the Cumberland Plateau is the Tennessee Valley Authority, the nation's highest benchmark in land use and regional planning Of resources. But a few years ago the Congress drew a wall around tva, and its proximity only serves now to dramatize the contrast between the social health and well-being that accompany wise development of resources, and the poverty of land and Spirit that can occur in absence of such planning.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

In 1963, Harry M. Caudill published his now classic account of the reckless, deliberate despoliation of the Appalachian Plateau, "Night Comes to the Cumberlands." Thirteen years later, in "The Watches of the Night," Caudill continued the heartbreaking story of an incredibly rich land inhabited by a grindingly poor people whose problems, despite state and local aid and an unprecedented boom in coal, had worsened: the land was being stripped more rapidly than ever; the people's traditional relationship with the land was being uprooted, and their old customs eliminated by standardization. Both a narrative history and a polemic against greed and waste, "The Watches of the Night" hammers at "the profligacy growing out of the persistent myth of superabundance." The author ponders an even darker future if the cycle of boom and bust is not broken. He writes: "Americans have never understood or respected the finely textured, little-hill terrain of the Cumberland Plateau." Neither the farmers nor the miners who followed the early pioneers saw it as a place to cherish. Through decades that have lengthened to nearly two centuries the land has fought back, sometimes with savage floods and always with persistent efforts to reforest. "But now time runs out and our 'inexhaustible' resources have turned finite....The Kentucky Cumberlands are many things, but most of all they are are a warning.

Watches of the Night

Jesse Stuart Foundation

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Harry M. Caudill. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Harry M. Caudill

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Harry M. Caudill. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Night Comes to the Cumberlands: A Biography of a Depressed Area

My Land is Dying

Slender is the Thread: Tales From a Country Law Office

Night Comes to the Cumberlands: A Biography of a Depressed Area (Classic Reprint)

Night Comes to the Cumberlands: A Biography of a Depressed Area (Classic Reprint)

Watches of the Night