40 Acres and No Mule (Paperback)

~ Janice Holt Giles (Author) "I want to be as honest as I can in telling this story of our first year on the ridge..." (more)
Key Phrases: ridge folks, ridge women, tobacco crop, Miss Bessie, Uncle Marion, Sale Coffey (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

" In the late 1940s, Janice and Henry Giles moved from Louisville, Kentucky, back to the Appalachian hill country where Henry had grown up a d where his family had lived since the time of the Revolution. With their savings, the couple bought a ramshackle house and forty acres of land on a ridge top and set out to be farmers like Henry's forebears. To this personal account of the trials of a city woman trying to learn the ways of the country and of her neightbors, Janice Holt Giles brings the same warmth, homor, and powers of observation that characterize her novels. Enlightening and evocative, personal and universally pertinent, this description of a year of ""backaches, fun, low ebbs, and high tides, and above all a year of eminent satisfaction"" will be welcomed by Janice Holt Giles's many readers, old and new."

Product Details

• Paperback: 248 pages
• Publisher: The University Press of Kentucky (September 15, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813108098
• ISBN-13: 978-0813108094
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #339,376 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #90 in

  Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Regional U.S. > South

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What a wonderful book!, May 20, 2002

By	Big Momma "Big Momma's House" (Northeast U.S.) - See all my reviews

I loved this book because it took me on a journey to a part of the United States that is not known to most readers. And to a time that is not today. And to know people who are unlike any neighbors I have ever had.
I really enjoyed learning the landscape and the problems and the social activities of mountain people. Someone who lives in an urban area (or the suburbs of an urban area) may feel superior to these characters, feel privileged compared to such country types but I really admired many of the people for coping so well with their circumstances. Many seem heroic, even.
I'd like to say Thank You to this author!

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Review, April 23, 2000

By A Customer

40 Acres and No Mule by Janice Holt Giles was book about life in Kentucky. It told of the hardships and the good times and how everything always worked out. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn more about KY or living in a rural southern area.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Truly A Gift, January 21, 2007

By	Sherri Huber - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I purchased this book as a gift for my dad. Janis Holt Giles came to me while doing family research, The Kentuckians was resourced in one family's information so I purchased that book. My dad took it up and read it and has been a Giles fan ever since. From then on every month I have bought a new Giles book for him to read and he enjoys them so. He reads the books in one day then passes them along to anyone who will read them.
He believes Janis Holt Giles to be one of the most gifted writers of all times.I just simply get pleasure from finding him books he loves to read.