Granite and Cedar: The People and the Land of Vermont's Northeast Kingdom [Hardcover]

John M. Miller (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 2001

An unusual collaboration between a documentary photographer and a writer of fiction to produce a haunting portrait of the people and the land of Vermont's most rural area, often referred to as the Northeast Kingdom.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Granite & Cedar is a work of rare beauty, a superb evocation of the people and landscape of northeastern Vermont." -- Alex Harris, Center for Documentary Studies, Duke University

"Granite & Cedar paints a poignant portrait of perseverance and community in an unforgiving rural landscape." -- Melissa MacKenzie, Vermont Sunday Magazine, September 2001

"Granite & Cedar preserves a piece of the legacy of the people and land of Vermont's Northeast Kingdom." -- Ann Marie Giroux, Vermont Life Magazine, Winter 2001

"Mosher's saga perfectly complements Miller's images of hardscrabble ruination, homestead silences, long-creased men and machines furrowed into timeless memory." -- David Lowenthal, author, The Past Is a Foreign Country

From the Publisher

9 3/4 x 8 3/4 trim. 68 photographs

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 108 pages
• Publisher: Thistle Hill Publications & Vermont Folklife Center; 1st edition (August 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0970551118
• ISBN-13: 978-0970551115
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 9.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,441,899 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars See Your Grandmother's Soul in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom, August 30, 2001

By 

Carroll Colby of the North Star Monthly (Danville, VT United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Granite and Cedar: The People and the Land of Vermont's Northeast Kingdom (Hardcover)

There's a story told about a Buddhist monk who could look into your eyes and see your grandmother's soul. The collaboration between author Howard Frank Mosher and photographer John M. Miller, called "Granite & Cedar: The People and the Land of Vermont's Northeast Kingdom" gives the common reader a chance for a similar view. This remarkable book gives a profound opportunity to see into and beyond the familiar of "home."
"Granite & Cedar" is set in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom; the black and white photographs (most taken between 1971 and 1976) represent a simpler time when the region was a world unto itself. Then the Interstate rolled through, and it was suddenly easier to have second homes here. Long-time residents could come and go with ease, and the world of the Northeast Kingdom changed. Patterns of life shifted, and familiar traditions suddenly reappeared as people, places and ways that were different.
Mosher's haunting story of Aunt Jane Hubbell weaves through the photographs like hand washed thread turning into fine lace. The story opens in 1965 as the plans for the Interstate are introduced. Aunt Jane has fierce stubbornness and loyalty to family, both living and dead. Will she stand up to the engineers at the public hearing for the highway, or will she back down in deference to her 78 years and ancestors lying at rest? How will she be remembered?
We see the time-worn buildings standing tall beside symbols of an emerging era of rapid obsolescence; we see wool jackets and spruce boards holding their ground to synthetic fleece and vinyl siding; we see men and women whose lives and ways are somehow very familiar although today - they are gone.
We see into a place and time well used by those who lived off the land and were shaped by it and who like Aunt Jane were, above all, practical. Mosher and Miller have unwrapped the gift we thought unique to the legendary monk.
For those with connections to the Northeast Kingdom "Granite & Cedar" will be tenderly familiar. And yet strictly regional, this book is not. For those who only know Vermont's fringe from a distance, the connection to home will prevail.
"Granite & Cedar" is Mosher and Miller at their best.