"The traditional neighborly work of killing a hog and preparing it as food for humans is either a fine art or a shameful mess. It requires knowledge, experience, skill, good sense, and sympathy," writes Wendell Berry in the essay portion of this book. In November 1979 as in years before, neighborly families gathered to do one of the ceremonious jobs of farm life: hog killing. Tanya Berry had been given a camera by New Farm magazine to photograph Kentucky farmers at work, and for two days at the farm of Owen and Loyce Flood in Henry County, she captured this culmination of a year's labor raising livestock. Here, in the resulting photographs, published for the first time, the American agrarian tradition is shown at its most harmonious, with strong men and women toiling with shared purpose towards a common wealth. Tanya Berry reveals intimate, expressive moments: the teams of young men hoisting animals by physical strength onto a gambrel and wagon for butchering, women grinding meat and mixing sausage and readying hams for preservation, and the solidarity of human beings coming together in reverence for the food they would eat, the lives and bodies which would be taken, and those which would be strengthened.

For the Hog Killing, 1979

Arts & Photography

Berry, Tanya Amyx

Berry, Tanya

Photography & Video

Fireside Industries, an imprint of University Press of Kentucky

When Katherine Pettit and May Stone arrived in the rural Appalachian mountains of eastern Kentucky to engage in social settlement work in the late 1800s, they were unmarried outsiders, living in pitched tents on the side of a hill, and perceived as odd, peculiar―and "quare" (the local pronunciation of "queer"). Yet these strong, capable educators wanted to "learn all we can and teach all we can," and in doing so would persevere to establish the Hindman Settlement School in 1902. When Lucy Furman arrived at the school five years later, she was already an accomplished writer, but used her two decades of living and working at the school as fruitful and prolific inspiration for her beloved novels. Printed for the first time since 1941, this lightly fictionalized account of Pettit's and Stone's entrances into the Hindman community offers the contemporary reader a unique look at this country's early rural/urban divide. From the time of its first publication in The Atlantic to the last edition of the bound book, The Quare Women was a big success. Readers loved the book's dramatic adventure and romance, as well as the real-life research that Furman used to create the story. To this day, the Hindman Settlement School believes in "honoring the past, improving the present, and planning for the bright and colorful future of Central Appalachia." This book endures as a lasting testament to the spirit and legacy of these trailblazing women.

The Quare Women: A Story of the Kentucky Mountains

Literature & Fiction

Furman, Lucy

United States

Even As We Breathe: A Novel

Nineteen-year-old Cowney Sequoyah yearns to escape his hometown of Cherokee, North Carolina, in the heart of the Smoky Mountains. When a summer job at Asheville's luxurious Grove Park Inn and Resort brings him one step closer to escaping the hills that both cradle and suffocate him, he sees it as an opportunity. With World War II raging in Europe, the inn is the temporary home of Axis diplomats and their families, who are being held as prisoners of war. Soon, Cowney's refuge becomes a cage when the daughter of one of the residents goes missing and he finds himself accused of abduction and murder. Even As We Breathe invokes the elements of bone, blood, and flesh as Cowney navigates difficult social, cultural, and ethnic divides. After leaving the seclusion of the Cherokee reservation, he is able to explore a future free from the consequences of his family's choices and to construct a new worldview, for a time. However, prejudice and persecution in the white world of the resort eventually compel Cowney to free himself from larger forces that hold him back as he struggles to unearth evidence of his innocence and clear his name.

Clapsaddle, Annette Saunooke

Product Description 
For twenty years, diners in the Bluegrass have been able to satisfy their cravings for Ouita Michel's sustainable, farm-to-table cuisine at her many acclaimed restaurants. Each restaurant―from Wallace Station to Holly Hill Inn―features dishes that combine Kentucky's bounty with Michel's celebrated vision. Diners can enjoy traditional southern staples like buttermilk biscuits, country ham, and Po-Boy sandwiches, or opt for unique variations on international favorites and American classics. Now, readers around the country can experience what makes Ouita Michel a culinary and cultural treasure.\nJust a Few Miles South serves up the recipes that patrons of Michel's restaurants have come to know and love, including the Bluegrass Benedict breakfast sandwich, Ouita's Sardou Panini, Wallace Station's Creamy Chicken and Mushroom Soup, and Honeywood's Hoecake Burger. Some dishes offer creative twists on classics, like the Inside Out Hot Brown, the Wallace Cubano, or the Bourbon Banh Mi. Throughout, the chefs responsible for these delicious creations share the rich traditions and stories behind the recipes. When you can't get down to your favorite place, this book will help you bring home the aroma, the flavors, and the love of fresh foods made with locally sourced ingredients―and share it all with friends and family. 
 Review 
"Ouita is quintessential Kentucky, reflecting our treasured culinary culture. Her respect for the Bluegrass blends perfectly with her incredible and innovative journey with food. A presentation as delightful as Ouita's authentic hospitality. Food is love, and Ouita delivers this beautiful message on a silver tray."―Peggy Noe Stevens, founder of the Bourbon Women Association and coauthor of 
Which Fork Do I Use with My Bourbon?\n" 
Just a Few Miles South's traditional Kentucky recipes take me back to my grandmother's table. And I'm delighted that among so many treasures, the recipes for the peerless soup beans and cornbread I've devoured on so many visits to Wallace Station are included. Throughout her restaurants and this book, the use of locally sourced ingredients combined with expert preparations become edible love letters to Kentuckians. Thank you, Ouita!"―Susan Reigler, coauthor of 
Which Fork Do I Use with My Bourbon? and a former restaurant critic for the 
Louisville Courier-Journal\n"Chef Ouita is the undisputed queen of Kentucky cooking. Her understated yet elegant cooking has done more for the region than anyone else I can think of. She is a mentor, an activist, and a force! With 
 Just a Few Miles South, she shares her love for her home and shows us what makes that place and her so special!"―Vishwesh Bhatt, winner of the 2019 James Beard Award for Best Chef in the South\n" 
Just a Few Miles South is a brilliant field guide to the food and culture of the Bluegrass, as embodied by Ouita's family of restaurants. It's a cookbook that feels as dear to me as a family heirloom, packed with the recipes I've treasured most from my time at Wallace Station and the Holly Hill Inn (as both a patron and a chef), scaled down and simplified for the home cook."―Stella Parks, pastry chef and 
New York Times-bestselling author of 
BraveTart: Iconic American Desserts\n"The boundless beauty of Kentucky cuisine is joyfully captured in these pages by a chef who has defined this region with her cooking. She is a custodian of tradition, a magician of flavor, and her restaurants are the narratives that tell us who we are in Kentucky. This book will be a treasure for generations to come."―Edward Lee, chef and author of Buttermilk Graffiti (winner of James Beard Award for Best Book of the Year in Writing) and Smoke & Pickles\n"Ouita champions many of the good things we associate with old and new Kentucky, from lard can burgoo to banh mi with bourbon mayonnaise. In this love letter to her state and her people, her cooking and advocacy entwine, making a strong case for the power of food to make a differenc

Just a Few Miles South: Timeless Recipes from Our Favorite Places

Cookbooks, Food & Wine

Michel, Ouita

Baking

Product Description 
"They had been told their sacrifice was for the public good. They were never told how much they would miss it, or for how long."Drowned Town explores the multigenerational impact caused by the loss of home and illuminates the joys and sorrows of a group of people bound together by western Kentucky's Land Between the Lakes and the lakes that lie on either side of it. The linked stories are rooted in a landscape forever altered by the mid-twentieth-century impoundment of the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers and the seizing of property under the power of eminent domain to create a national recreation area on the narrow strip of land between the lakes. The massive federal land and water projects completed in quick succession were designed to serve the public interest by providing hydroelectric power, flood control, and economic progress for the region―at great sacrifice for those who gave up their homes, livelihoods, towns, and history.\nThe narrative follows two women whose lives are shaped by their friendship and connection to the place, and their stories go back and forth in time to show how the creation of the lakes both healed and hurt the people connected to them. In the process, the stories emphasize the importance of sisterhood and family, both blood and created, and how we cannot separate ourselves from our places in the world. 
 Review 
" 
Drowned Town is a tender, touching book about a thoroughly urbanized and cynical Louisville attorney shedding her prejudices about country life and ways to find love amid the watery landscapes of western Kentucky. As a backdrop for the developing romance, Jayne Moore Waldrop offers a tender portrait of women's friendship, and poignantly evokes the countryside and towns before their flooding by the great TVA lakes."―Fenton Johnson, 
 author of 
The Man Who Loved Birds\n"In graceful prose, dotted with zingers and surprises, Jayne Moore Waldrop weaves a modern story of reconciliation and hope around this heartbreaking history. I'm impressed by her undaunted plunge into the subject and the compelling fiction she comes up with."―Bobbie Ann Mason, author of 
Dear Ann\n"Through a counterpoint of interwoven narratives, Jayne Moore Waldrop has given us a vivid portrait of a particular place – far western Kentucky – over a period of half a century. 
Drowned Town is a story of loss and hope, of family and community, set on a lake and in the Land Between the Lakes, taking us from homesteads, to penitentiary, to lakeside mansion, and the affections and allegiances that transcend wrenching change. You will not forget these people, their dislocations, loyalties, love of land, love of home, sustaining love."―Robert Morgan, author of 
Gap Creek\n"There is a fierce current of remembrance that pulses within these stories, which will not allow a Cumberland River community to be erased by water or time. Jayne Moore Waldrop is a very talented writer and in 
Drowned Town she vividly renders the human cost of what those in power call progress."―Ron Rash\n"The novel's shifts between characters and time periods, from the beginning of the dam project to a contemporary moment, create a swirling, circular pacing that reflects the collapsed history of those who straddle the land's past and present. Once all evidence of human habitation is bulldozed to make way for the lake and recreation area, what the novel 
Drowned Town memorializes is a landscape in which, for successive generations, beauty is 'intertwined with loss and sorrow.'"― 
Foreword Reviews\n"With the deft hand of a water colorist, she explores the notion of home, drawing insights from her family's experience of leaving Pike County to relocate to western Kentucky before she was born."― 
Northern Kentucky Tribune\n"As with the shifting Kentuckian landscape, 
Drowned Town treats its audience to the ebbing and flowing of emotions that come with forging and embodying a sense of identity through place. Like 
A Wall of Bright Dead Feath

Drowned Town

Waldrop, Jayne Moore

The Girl Singer: Poems

Feminism, Appalachian culture, and country music: three threads beautifully woven into one in Marianne Worthington's poetry collection The Girl Singer.\nThe poet grew up in urban Appalachia, listening to country and folk music and letting it live within her. The speakers in The Girl Singer offer lyrical celebrations of the women who performed that music and recite their stories anew. The girl singer is also the poet―one who traces loss through turning seasons, monitors the patterns of neighborhood wildlife, and creates a sisterhood for singing old songs in new ways.\nThe Girl Singer is part family history, part music, and part nature walk. Worthington's attentive eye and heart are reflected in the starkly striking and painful images she paints in the poems. Every poem, whether describing a connection with Appalachian wildlife, retelling the lyrics of a classic country tune, reflecting on the speaker's bloodline, or giving voice to famous musical figures of the past, strikes a powerful chord.

Worthington, Marianne

Poetry

Hounds on the Mountain: Poems

Still, James

History & Criticism

James Still left eastern Kentucky for Europe in 1941 after enlisting in the US Army during World War II, leaving behind a recently published, semi-autobiographical work of fiction, On Troublesome Creek. Even as he developed a broader worldview, his work continued to draw from the agrarian and regional sources of life in the Cumberland Plateau that supported the American war effort. Like the riverbeds and creeks he so often evoked, Still reminds readers of the local and regional founts that they were fighting for in the century's second global war. The "Dean of Appalachian Literature," James Still grew up in Alabama before settling down in Knott County, Kentucky, in the early 1930s. In On Troublesome Creek, he describes the ebbs and flows of Appalachian living while celebrating the culture defined by family, self-sufficiency, and hard work. The colloquial dialogue brings to life a community attached to the land on which they had lived for generations and the victuals and rituals that kept their world in motion amidst uncertainty.

On Troublesome Creek: Stories

An early American adage proclaimed, "The frontier was heaven for men and dogs―hell for women and mules." Since the 1700s, when his name first appeared in print, Daniel Boone has been synonymous with America's westward expansion and life on the frontier. Traces is a retelling of Boone's saga through the eyes of his wife, Rebecca, and her two oldest daughters, Susannah and Jemima.\nDaniel became a mythic figure during his lifetime, but his fame fueled backwoods gossip that bedeviled the Boone women throughout their lives―most notably the widespread suspicion that one of Rebecca's children was fathered by Daniel's younger brother. Traces explores the origins of these rumors, exposes the harsh realities of frontier life, and gives voice to the women whose vibrant lives have been reduced to little more than scattered footnotes within the historical record. Along the path of Daniel's restless wandering, the women were eyewitnesses to the clash of cultures between the settlers and the indigenous tribes who fought to retain control of their native lands, which made life on the frontier an ongoing struggle for survival.\nPatricia Hudson gives voice to these women, all of whom were pioneers in their own right. The Boone women's joys and sorrows, as well as those of countless other forgotten women who braved the frontier, are invisibly woven into the fabric of America's early years and the story of this country's westward expansion.

Traces: A Novel

Hudson, Patricia L.

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Books by Fireside Industries, an imprint of University Press of Kentucky

See the best price to sell, buy or rent books by the Fireside Industries, an imprint of University Press of Kentucky publisher. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

For the Hog Killing, 1979

The Quare Women: A Story of the Kentucky Mountains

Even As We Breathe: A Novel

Just a Few Miles South: Timeless Recipes from Our Favorite Places

Drowned Town

The Girl Singer: Poems

The Girl Singer: Poems

Hounds on the Mountain: Poems

On Troublesome Creek: Stories

Traces: A Novel