All That Is Native and Fine

In the American imagination “Appalachia” designates more than a geographical region. It evokes fiddle tunes patchwork quilts split-rail fences and all the other artifacts that decorate a cherished romantic region in the American mind. In this classic work David Whisnant challenges this view of Appalachia (and consequently a broader imaginative tendency) by exploring connections between the comforting simplicity of cultural myth and the troublesome complexities of cultural history.<br/><br/>Looking at the work of ballad hunters and collectors folk and settlement school founders folk festival promoters and other culture workers Whisnant examines a process of intentional and systematic cultural intervention that had — and still has — far-reaching consequences. He opens the way into a more sophisticated understanding of the politics of culture in Appalachia and other regions. In a new foreword for this twenty-fifth anniversary edition Whisnant reflects on how he came to write this book how readers responded to it and how some of its central concerns have animated his later work.