Seth Donavan struggles with the death of his younger brother, Isaac, who was killed during the Battle at Moore's Creek Bridge. After the battle he spends his time fighting small battles with a small band of loyalists. Soon he's employed by Edward Denton to find out where William Martin is hiding weapons he sends to the rebels. But when he's with the Martins he becomes friends with them and his job becomes harder day after day. After an accident William Martin has a heart attack and soon after dies. After the death of William the family travels to Williamsburg to go visit Will Martin's sister Elizabeth.

Jacob Spencer escorts his stepsister, Sarah MacNeal, and her friend, Amanda Taylor, over the mountains to Williamsburg. Part of the reason for the trip is to hopefully help Sarah recover from losing of a close friend, Philip Baxter. While in Williamsburg they stay with Jacob's grandparents, James and Esther Spencer. Jacob soon meets up with Annabelle Denton, an old flame from the past. When Jacob sees Annabelle the feelings that he used to have for her are stirred once again.

In Williamsburg, Sarah meets her uncle Will Martin again and learns of her grandfather's death. Sarah meets Seth, her aunt, Rehekah, her cousins, David and Eve, her grandmother, Anne Martin, and Rebekah's grandmother, Martha. All the Martins, Seth, and Martha stay with James and Esther too. Sarah, Jacob, and Amanda are invited to a dinner party at the Denton's home and Seth goes along and that's when Seth realizes that Annabelle's father is Edward Denton his employer. Annabelle does something a few days after the dining party that gets Amanda mad at Jacob for a while. At his birthday party Jacob picks between Amanda and Annabelle. After the party they find out more about Seth than they ever wanted to know.

Will Martin and his family along with Seth move to Watauga when Jacob, Sarah, and Amanda go home. Sarah struggles with her feelings for two men and to let her heart love. Seth struggles with his feelings for Sarah and the God whom he's hated since letting his brother die.

What will happen to the MacNeals', Spencers', and Seth during the Battle of King's Men against Tories and Indians?

I suggest any of The Spirit of Appalachia books. They're a wonderful mix of love, history, suspense, and Christianity. Gilbert Morris and Aaron McCarver make a wonderful writing team and can spin plots wonderfully.

Gilbert Morris just keeps them coming. Each one contains wonderful plots and out of this world characters. Among the King's Soldiers has an interesting title that has two meanings that you don't understand until you have read the book. The plot is intriguing and suspensful and will keep you reading until you are finished. I can't wait for the next one to come out!

As a resident of Washington state who enjoys the natural beauty of the area, I found this book to be a most helpful and inspiring guide. The authors are knowledgable about the natural history of the region, and the text is accompanied by many beautiful photographs. I'd highly recommend this book to anyone planning to visit the area for the first time, or to residents of the Northwest who want to learn more about the natural bounty that their region has to offer.

As a resident of Washington state who loves the natural beauty of the region, I've found this to be the most helpful, informative and nicely illustrated guide to the natural areas of Washington and Oregon. The book is well written, with beautiful photographs, and has not only inspired me to visit a lot of new places but has enriched my experience of those places I was already familiar with. I'd highly recommend this book to anyone planning on visiting the Northwest --- and especially to those already living here!

Whether you are a fan of Edgar Tolson's work or of woodcarving in general, this is an essential book to have if you are interested in folk art of the 20th century. The thorough research done on Edgar Tolson is fascinating and through his art and career the world of 20th century folk art is examined. From key folk art collectors to various museums and institutions, the 20th century folk art movement was created and sold to the buying public. By the time the "important" artists were established all of the "important" early work was already in the hands of a few collectors and the museums. It's no accident that Tolson's work ended up in a prestigious Whitney Biennial and his artwork sky-rocketed in price. The same with Howard Finster. By the time his work was presented as being important to the general public, a narrow group of collectors and critics had already hoarded the first few thousand of his numbered pieces which the critics then deemed as the most important of his career. And the story continues to this day with collectors / critics buying early key works, then recommending them to the general folk art buyers. This book is perhaps the best analysis of why and how a folk artist becomes "important" in the 20th century. It may or may not sour your view on 20th century folk art but is a great read either way. As with all art or decorative objects, if you just buy what you like and ignore the critics, you'll be happy. Who's to say 10, 20 or 50 years from now if anyone will even care about "20th century folk art."

Ms. Julia S. Ardey has put together an extraordinary work -- filled with stories and pictures of a poor Kentucky man who whittled stuff to which other folks took a liking. My grandfather Edgar Tolson will always remain an elusive character both in life and in death hard to explain and to understand. As all great artists he was not one dimensional. Ms. Ardey did a fine job of grasping enough bits and pieces of his life, through the eyes and hearts of those who knew him, to give a reasonable representation of who Edgar Tolson was and why he whittled. Ms. Ardey interviewed scores of people and personalities who all have their own opinion of Edgar Tolson the Man and Edgar Tolson the Woodcarver and the times in which he lived. Ms. Ardey managed a remarkable feat in compling those interviews into an a very good work. She included many pictures that give insight into an artisan and his art. Many pictures capture Edgar's soul in his eyes -- others show a family life of just real folks who just have a Daddy that whittles in the living room and lets the shavings fall to floor. As a granddaugther of Edgar Tolson, beloved Kentucky woodcarver, I am very pleased with the work Julia S. Ardery managed to put together on his life and extraordinary talent. With a family as large as he had I am sure that this book will be debated into generations, however, it is a real good starting point at which to kick off the debate of fact or fiction. The papaw I knew was a wonderful minister; he loved his God, knew his bible and had a passion for sharing the Biblical Truths of his God with others through his work. He managed to reach the very far corners of the earth with his renditions of Adam & Eve in Garden of Eden, Their Fall, and Noah's Ark among a few--how many ministers can stake that claim. He carved what was upon his heart to carve. He was discovered by others who marketed it to a world who craved his carvings and what they represented to them. I am so pleased that Ms. Ardery managed to compile so much ! of his life and work into this book. It makes for really good reading and gives the reader the opportunity to linger with story and photo's of Edgar Tolson and his artwork long enough to gain an understanding of why so many are so drawn to it, him and living upon this earth. Thank you Ms. Ardery for a job well done.

The radio preachers in Dorgan's book are nothing like the flashy televangelists that one sees regularly on television. Rather, this is religious broadcasting at its most grassroots level. These are "real" people from Appalachia who have what they believe is a mission. They are people who have a deep-seated faith that has seen them through the turbulent times often inherent in Appalachian life. Dorgan treats his four subjects with sensitivity and respect.

Released in 1993, the book addresses what Dorgan sees as a vanishing part of Appalachian life -- the live Sunday radio preacher. Having just returned from those portions of Appalachian in which these preachers have broadcast, I was pleased to hear that seven years later the genre is far from dead, although I would suspect that Dorgan's assessment is a definite trend.

"The Airwaves of Zion" is a unique book that will be readily taken to heart by those interested in Appalchian Religion and/or Religious Broadcasting.

Appalachia Inside Out is a collection of some of the finest writing produced by Appalachian writers about Appalachia. The volume is divided into thematic units such as Roots, Exploration, and Settlement, Heroes and Demigods, and Nature and Progress. The reader will find a find collection of essays, short stories, and poems carefully chosen to present the region accurately and honestly. Together volumes 1 and 2 of this work give scholars and general readers alike a full range of readings about Appalachia. As a graduate student, I found this book a fascinating introduction to the study of Appalachian writers and writing, and as a teacher of Southern Appalachian Literature, I consider this book invaluable. I highly recommend Appalachia Inside Out to anyone wishing to read and learn more about Appalachia.

This is an excellent book for the layman and the expert. It continues the work done by Dr. Grady McWhiney and Dr. Forrest McDonald on the Celtic influence on the South, but is based on independent research. The original title was much better, Apples on the Flood: The Southern Mountain Experience. It is written from not just a historical point of view, but also uses mythology, literature, sociology, and psychology to make its point. It is the single best synthesis of the impact of the Celtic peoples, especially the Scots-Irish, on the Appalachians. The next step is to do for the whole South what Dr. Cunningham did for the Mountains. He is a difficult person to find, as I have tried to track him down, but been unsuccessful thus far. The college he taught at closed down. I myself am researching this fascinating subject in graduate school now. I heartily recommend this book to any who is tired of the old "evil" South histories. If you want to really understand the culture of Southerners, READ THIS BOOK!

This is the most inspiring book I have found about making baskets. John Rice Irwin covers the subject of producing hand made baskets from scratch with a minimum of tools, and materials found in nature. The author features a great variety of black and white pictures of high quality baskets and makers at work. The book is as much a historical perspective of the Southern Appalachian basket culture, as it is a guide for making your own baskets. The remote areas of the region and the abundance of white oak and other native plants dictate the evolution of making baskets. There are references that indicate the initial designs were adopted by the Cherokee people of the region for harvesting, storing, and marketing their crops. The author has taken great care to include many details about the basket makers, their methods, and reasons for weaving. I was most inspired by the personal stories behind each basket, and the fact that many of the baskets outlive their makers. It is not uncommon for a single basket to last through several generations, carrying the love and thoughtfulness of the maker to those that follow. I would recommend this book for anyone interested in hand made baskets, as well as those who are looking for ways to use materials found in the back yard to create a lasting, usefull, even market worthy product. I have adopted many of the methods, meterials, and designes in the baskets I now make.

This collection of essays is a revelation. From the fractured loyalties of mountain people to speculation about and examination of the mountains' manpower's effect on the war's outcome to the manufactured identity of Appalchia that grew out of the war's aftermath, this book begins to shed light on a long-dark aspect of Civil War history and a long-neglected part of the country.

Fisher presents a wonderful array of perspectives on grassroots resistance to unwelcome change in the Appalachian region. The authors in this volume portray social struggles for justice is several contexts: dealing with class and labor rights, environmental justice, health and industrial development, and gender/ethnic identity. Weaving together first person narratives of resistance, scholarly accounts of political economy, and sensitive consideration of contemporary theoretical concepts, Fighting Back in Appalachia is a wonderful introduction into the political activism of Appalachia, and more generally, a great portrait of alternative democratic ideals at work on the American landscape. I highly recommed this book for its content and readability.

I read Nancy Dawe's book "I Lift Up My Eyes to the Hills: Stories of Faith and Joy from Appalachia" with great interest. The author describes with striking accuracy what it is about the workcamp experience that could keep someone returning year after year.

Having been blessed enough to participate in such worktrips myself, I can attest to the absolute truth of her words. I would highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to know more about the way worktrips can change lives. This is a must-read for anyone about to embark on their first workcamp adventure, whether it's in Appalachia or not.