Customer Reviews

Dorie: Woman of the Mountains

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DORIE: WOMAN OF THE MOUNTAINS is an excellent example of new history-making, literature in which one person's story is representative of an era and its people. Dorie's narration of her life in the Great Smoky Mountains during the earliest years of the twentieth century evokes memories of our own old folks and their storytelling. Her account of the often hardscrabble existence she and her family endured in the mountains of East Tennessee is not a depressing one, but a testimony of the pioneer spirit that helped build this nation. Dorie's life straddled the fence between the old ways and the modern age, a time when many people still worked to produce everything their families needed even as other people discovered all the things that money could purchase at the local store or through the Sears or Montgomery Ward catalogues. Education was not always as easily obtained. Jobs became increasingly hard to find as the area was developed into a national park and with the onset of the Great Depression. Through Dorie's story, we get an inside glimpse of life in an isolated but beautiful mountain wilderness, and the ways in which modernity simultaneously improved financial situations and contributed to the destruction of a uniquely American way of life.

The book reminded my mum of younger days growing up in the Smokies like Dorie. It was a fabulous and truthful book which presented life in the mountains like they were and like they are still in some hollars here. Absolutely loved it and would recommend it to anyone to read.

Dorie:Woman of the Mountains is an excellent book. Very well written - you feel as if you are talking with Dorie herself as she chronicles her life in the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee. This book is so entertaining you want to read it in one sitting. I would highly recommend this book to everyone. It is a most enjoyable trip back in time.

I've read this book at least three times. It fascinates me.

Florence Cope Bush tells the story of her mother, Dorie Woodruff Cope, and her upbringing in the Smoky Mountains of East Tennessee. It's a simple narrative, describing a mountain woman who was anything but typical. She cries over the death of a chick. She can't cook well. She's sensitive.

But even in this, Dorie was not afraid to work. And we learn so much about the traditions of Smoky Mountain life...from late nineteeth century North Carolina to the logging era of Elkmont.

I recommend this reading for anyone who loves the Smokies, their history, and their people.

Just love this book. It's written in a way that makes you feel you are right there, emotionally and sensibly experiencing it all, beginning when Dorie is a young child. This true story tells how the mountain people lived during the early 1900's, including the hardships, but above all revealing the love and devotion these sturdy mountain people have for each other. An especially poignant part is when Dorie's newborn sister dies when her ill mother is not able to feed her, and the father gently rocks the baby by the warmth of fireplace each night until she passes. This both moving and informative book is highly recommend.

I am so glad I ordered this book. sometimes i would catch myself wishing i could have lived during this time; but, as quick as that happened, i would change my mind. Ten children born to a very young mother who did a tremendous job with them enjoining them to get an education if they could because she knew how important it would someday be. And she was so right since her husband had back breaking work his whole life. Truly a woman of the mountains, but in a sense modern by the methods she used to bring up her children. She worked very hard to make a good home, have good meals and did not like profanity in any way. If you have an extra dollar or two, get this book for sure.

Everyone here has said so much good about
this book I may not add no more words but highly suggest it.
I read it over and over again.

Dorie is the history of every woman in East Tennessee who's family comes from "the mountains". A "must read" for any person seeking a peek back in time to what lives were like for those before us and the roots of where we come from.

What a great read for those of us who love to vacation in the Smokies and are familiar with the locations mentioned in this book - Gatlinburg, Townsend, Tremont, Oconaluftee and Upper Middle Creek Rd. outside Pigeon Forge to name a few. The story of Dorie is told in a way that draws you into the book like a novel might do. Florence Cope Bush does an excellent job in telling the story of the interesting life of her mother, Dorie Woodruff Cope. This is a book I will hold on to and read again.