The Appalachian Forest, A Search For Roots and Renewal [Hardcover]

Chris Bolgiano (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 1998

37 b/w photos & 6 x 9. Unique combination of natural and cultural history.& Eloquent account of Appalachia's past and future Advance praise for The Appalachian Forest: Thoroughly researched and engagingly written, this important book offers a comprehensive overview of the past, present, and future of the southern Appalachian forest . . . a compelling blend of natural and cultural history . . . surveying everything from the traditions of the Cherokee to the effects of acid rain. --Daniel J. Philippon coeditor of The Height of Our Mountains: Nature Writing from Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains and Shenandoah Valley Chris Bolgiano has written an informed, pointed and lyrically personal book about one of America's most beautiful and most ravaged areas. --Philip Shabecoff, author of A Fierce Green Fire: The American Environmental Movement A volume that belongs on the shelves of all those who live in and love Appalachia and wish to know more about this place (as she puts it) of "heartbreak and hope." --Charles E. Little, author, In Search of Eden, The Dying of the Trees, editor, An Appalachian Tragedy Since European settlement, Appalachia's natural history has been profoundly impacted by the people who have lived, worked, and traveled there. Beginning with the geological events that formed the mountains, Bolgiano's journey explores the influx of settlers, Native American displacement, lumber and coal exploitation, the birth of forestry, and conservation efforts. Her research concludes that rich natural habitat and a growing interest in tourism and outdoor recreation prove the urgency in preserving connected, mature forests for the benefit of all living things in the Appalachian wilderness--including people. Historical information, forestry issues, and conservation efforts extend well beyond an Appalachian readership. Chris Bolgiano is the author of Mountain Lion: An Unnatural History of Pumas and People . She lives in the Shenandoah Valley.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Steeped in history, the Appalachian wilderness has been profoundly affected by the people who have lived and worked there. This volume traces the natural history of the Appalachian forest while taking into account the people and politics that have shaped its development. Bolgiano (Mountain Lion, LJ 9/1/95) is well qualified to write about this area, as she and her husband make their home on 100 acres of the old-growth forest. She has done her research thoroughly, consulting experts from several area universities for information about forest growth, logging practices, fires, geology, Native American history, bird and animal life, conservation issues, and acid rain. The result is a comprehensive study, personalized with anecdotes of the author's own experiences living and working in Appalachia. The distinct, unique personalities of the mountain people enhance discussions of issues and politics, and the reader gets a feel for the reality of Appalachian life. Interest in this volume should not be limited to the geographic area in question, as it addresses the broader issues of ecology, conservation, and recreational use of public lands.?Deborah Emerson, Monroe Community Coll. Lib., Rochester, NY
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

Like a skipping stone flung across an ocean, Bolgiano's 280 pages of well-researched and meticulously compiled facts about the forest glancingly hit almost every character and episode in the mountins' history, from the mastodons and ground sloths that roamed the ancient balds to the turn-of-the-century bears so gorged on pre- blight chestnuts that they could barely run. . . . Bolgiano does a fine job of converying the ecological, environmental and cultural intricacies of the once-primeval forest, and finding in them, as she rightly puts it, "the greatest of Appalachian paradoxes: attachment to place and complicity in its destruction." It's a theme that hits home, both as an explanation of the past and a warning for the future. -- The Washington Post, December 16, 1998

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Stackpole Books; 1st edition (August 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811701263
• ISBN-13: 978-0811701266
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.9 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,010,925 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wow! What a fantastic read., December 5, 1998

By 

The Trickster (Belly Button, NM, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Appalachian Forest, A Search For Roots and Renewal (Hardcover)

This is easily the best book on the forests of the Appalachian Mountains I have ever read. It educates the reader in depth about the human and natural history and the ecology of this most fascinating and diverse of North American forests. At the same time, the book is so well researched and written that the reader is held riveted from the first sentence to the final word. I couldn't put it down.

The chapter about the American chestnut--the finest treatment of this subject I have seen--gives to the majority of us who took little notice of what we lost when the chestnut died out an understanding of the true scope of that tragedy. Then the reader is given hope that, through the work of a few dedicated botanists, the chestnut may again grace these beautiful mountains and valleys and coves with its presence and bless their inhabitants with its bounty.

Equally thorough treatments of other species of trees, of various forms of wildlife, of the forest as a whole, and of the people who have lived there occur throughout the book. Anyone even remotely interested in the natural treasures of our land must read The Appalachian Forest.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A personal yet panoramic examination of the forest's soul, November 18, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Appalachian Forest, A Search For Roots and Renewal (Hardcover)

In her book The Appalachian Forest, Chris Bolgiano has successfully combined a natural history essay with a textbook on forestry as she looks at the once and future Southern forest. Throughout, she weaves her personal experience of the woods with a bigger investigation of this tract of public forest, which stretches more or less contiguously from Virginia and West Virginia, through Kentucky, Tennessee and the Carolinas before it wraps up in Georgia. As she explores mankind's love-hate relationship with the forest, she uncovers both the checkered heritage of the Scots-Irish pioneers and the spiritual intertwining of the Cherokees as each culture defined its existence within the Appalachian Mountains. Profiles of all the forests, parks and recreation areas as well as those people important to the past, present and future of the forest are informative and serve to explain the evolution of this land's management and purpose since arriving in the public domain. But chapters on the chestnut and black bears are more enriching as they explore the very soul of one of the world's most biologically diverse temperate forests. A glimpse of the future, one filled with unanswered problems and possible solutions, leaves the reader in awe of a landscape that must not be allowed to disappear into the mists of development and mismanagement. An extensive bibliography, index and scattered photographs only serve to add to the credibility of this very thorough work.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Insight on the decline and rejuvenation of Applachia, February 8, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Appalachian Forest, A Search For Roots and Renewal (Hardcover)

I thought this book had several very interesting chapters and a few chapters with a bit too much literary license. The transplanted writer was trying to get the inside perpective of Applachian life. Overall I enjoyed this book. I would recommend it to readers interested in history and foresty.