Fabled in American history, the Scotch-Irish played a principal role in settling the Southern Appalachian Mountains. From the original settlers sprang a culture based on their Old World ways; along with their daily habits, they brought with them a reverence for the King James Bible and the land providing their sustenance. Isolated in mountain pockets, the culture existed on the periphery of mainstream America until the late 20th century. In Rediscovering the South¹s Celtic Heritage, author Barry Vann explores the roots and branches of America¹s pioneering Celts, following their influence through the ages to the present day, setting forth the bold theory that Celts in America form a distinct ethnic group separate from the dominant Anglo-Saxon culture.
Barry A. Vann is director of community and higher education and professor of geography at the University of the Cumberlands. He is the author of Rediscovering the South's Celtic Heritage; In Search of Ulster-Scots Land: The Birth and Geotheological Imaginings of a Transatlantic People; and (with Ellsworth Huntington) Geography Toward History: Studies in the Mediterranean Basin and Mesopotamia.
Author photo © Amy Vann
