No Lonesome Road: SELECTED PROSE AND POEMS [Paperback]

Don West (Author), Jeff Biggers (Author), George Brosi (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 9, 2004

This is the first book to celebrate the life and writing of one of the most charismatic Southern leaders of the middle twentieth century, Don West (1906-1992). West was a poet, a pioneer advocate for civil rights, a preacher, a historian, a labor organizer, a folk-music revivalist, an essayist, and an organic farmer. He is perhaps best known as an educator, primarily as cofounder of the Highlander Folk School in Tennessee and founder of the Appalachian South Folklife Center in West Virginia. In his old age, West served as an elder statesman for his causes. "No Lonesome Road" allows Don West to speak for himself. It provides the most comprehensive collection of his poetry ever published, spanning five decades of his literary career.It also includes the first comprehensive and annotated collection of West's nonfiction essays, articles, letters, speeches, and stories, covering his role at the forefront of Southern and Appalachian history, and as a pioneer researcher and writer on the South's little-known legacy of radical activism. Drawing from both primary and secondary sources, including previously unknown documents, correspondence, interviews, FBI files, and newspaper clippings, the introduction by Jeff Biggers stands as the most thorough, insightful biographical sketch of Don West yet published in any form. The afterword by George Brosi is a stirring personal tribute to the contributions of West and also serves as a thoughtful reflection on the interactions between the radicals of the 1930s and the 1960s.The best possible introduction to his extraordinary life and work, this annotated selection of Don West's writings will be inspirational reading for anyone interested in Southern history, poetry, religion, or activism.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Don West's passion flames over the Appalachians like some fiery dawn, throwing its red light down into the hollows and across the ridges, burning at the mists and bringing in the morning in a dazzling incandescence and with a roll of drums and a flourish of trumpets ... he strums those mysterious universal harmonies that make the language sing." -- Richard Marius, Appalachian Review "A handsome and intense young radical [who] gained near legendary status as a sort of phantom revolutionary who left a trail of radical poems and sermons in his wake ... hiding from the law or fleeing on his motorcycle just one jump ahead of the cops." -- John Egerton, author of Speak Now Against the Day: The Generation Before the Civil Rights Movement

Product Details

• Paperback: 280 pages
• Publisher: University of Illinois Press (February 9, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0252071573
• ISBN-13: 978-0252071577
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,103,716 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars wow, what a treasure, March 16, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: No Lonesome Road: SELECTED PROSE AND POEMS (Paperback)

After so many years of being out of print, here is an amazing collection of essays, stories and poems by one of Appalachia's true legends. Don West was really one of the most unique voices to come out of the mountains. As this collection wonderfully describes, he served at the forefront of so many early battles in the labor, civil rights, and folk movements: the unknown movements before the movements. His poems and stories also turned the hackneyed stereotypes of hillbillies on their heads, detailing the homegrown role of mountaineers in the abolitionist, labor and civil rights movements, and in defending themselves. In fact, I'd say Don West was Appalachian before it was cool to be Appalachian, and he was cool to boot.

It's amazing he is so unknown. I hope this great collection, which includes some previously unpublished essays and stories, will get a wide reading among students and young people in the South and Appalachia, and among readers and activists in general.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars overlooked portrait of radical South, March 18, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: No Lonesome Road: SELECTED PROSE AND POEMS (Paperback)

I highly recommend this book. And I agree that it is long overdue in coming out. It stands as a fine contribution to the literature of the South, especially the Mountain South, in giving a portrait of an overlooked tradition of radical activism in the region. West's writing is strong, often preachy, but clearly in tune with the social justice movements of his times. This book is a good companion to SPEAK NOW AGAINST THE DAY, a great book on the generation in the South before the civil rights movements, of which West was a critical player.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Working Class hero, May 9, 2004

By 

Crabby (Athens, GA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: No Lonesome Road: SELECTED PROSE AND POEMS (Paperback)

I was assigned this book for a class and found it a great read. West was sort of the Woody Guthrie poet of his times. Coming from the South, and Appalachia, he was also a rare voice for racial unity and a defender of the working man in the 1930s, a position that cost him a number of jobs and led to attacks by the Klan. Overall, I found his work to be really inspiring, even today.

There is a strange review below that calls West a beat poet. I don't know what that reviewer is referring to. The beats were an entirely different movement, in another time, and another place. The review is quite odd, actually, and out of place and disses a man who gave his life to the cause of social justice.