Though the terrible war for Independence is over in the colonies, now the United States, the war in Nathanael "Fox" Carter's life is just beginning.

Just after the war, Fox and his mother, Awinita, get news that a family member was killed in the last battle of the war. Soon tragedy strikes and Fox inherits a plantation. But will greed overcome his uncle Naaman who's furious because Fox inherited the plantation. Fox and his mother fear for their lives so they escape over the Misty Mountains.

Hannah Spencer soon befriends Fox. Fox gets to explore his Indian side of his ancestry. He meets the Indians Akando and Adahy and they teach him the ways of the Indian. Little does he know his mother and Akando have a past together. Sequatchie also becomes a big part of Fox's life.

Fox soon becomes unsure of his feelings for Hannah and not knowingly is really in competition for her with another man. All the while Fox struggles with his faith and heritage. Little does Fox know that both sides of his heritage have plans for him and they may not bed good.

Will Watauga ever become a state? Will Fox choose the right path for himself?

This is a wonderful edition to the Spirit of Appalachia series. Fox was a wonderful character to bring into the series. Fox made the plot twist and turn with the people he brought into the plot with him. Well the plot was wonderful and I strongly suggest the book

One of the things that I love best about Gilbert Morris are his historical settings. I love American History and enjoy the fictional stories that revolve around fact. This book was not as satisfying as his other books in the series, but it was still very good and enjoyable. I'm looking forward to the next one.

These books are of the typical Gilbert Morris genre. Admit it, we all pretty much know what will happen in the end. Don't get me wrong though, it's a fun read. I love U.S. history. Somehow though when I'm reading out of the history book, only faint dusty pictures come to mind. Not with this series! Famous historical figures like Daniel Boone and the Little Carpenter take on a life and a magic of their own. Gilbert Morris manages to give these people a good dusting! Makes me kind of lonely though. I seriously doubt that there is my own Hawk, Jacob, Andrew, or Seth out there. Guess I'll have to wait and see...I recommend you read this series. It puts new light on age old things!

This book provides accurate technical information about many Maine trails -- distance, difficulty, altitude, location of water, etc. I successfully used the guide to plan several hikes in Baxter State Park. The fold-out maps provided in the pocket-part are worth the price of the book. My complaints are these: (1) the book needs to be updated more frequently, and (2) it really needs a few well-placed photographs of the more challenging trails. For example, although I inferred the Dudley Trail up Mt. Katahdin was steep (based on the altitude and distance information provided), the book does nothing to convey the visceral impact of the view from Pamola Peak down to Chimney Pond Lake. It's dizzying in a way that makes you want to use your entrails for rope. And, that's something you don't want to discover from the summit.

Like other AMC hiking guides in this series (AMC White Mountain Guide, for example), the book includes detailed trail descriptions and top-notch maps. However, be aware that although this guide claims to include "nearly 200 peaks," it does not include every little mountain in Maine (a very big state). Most notably, Acadia National Park is omitted from this book.

Finally, the maps, although excellent, are paper, not tyvek.

This book is an exellent guide to anyone hiking in Maine. It details many trails, from long backpacking trips to short nature walks. Included with the guide are maps that are a valuable resource when hiking in the Maine wilderness. The only downside to the bguide is that it is only published every few years, and trails on private land sometimes change over time. Other than that it is a very detailed, complete guide to hiking in Maine

I really enjoyed the read, lots of history and interesting stories of people on the trail. The book points out many ways to do the trail without stressing one method over another. Further enticed my desire to do the trail but this book is by no means a how to or a what you'll need type book.

This book is great for those who want the taste of the appalachian trail and what it has to offer but does not bring the at to your house so you can feel it. When I read this book I never did feel him walking the trail. I do respect him for walking the trail but the format of this book does not walk the trail it explains it. He speaks of the super hikers not the average hikers like myself. I can't hike the trail in 50 days. I did not walk the trail blind. I experienced it. I stopped and smelled the wildflowers bloom with the fresh mountain dew. Thats the trail.

I just couldn't put this book down. Before I'd even finished the book, I decided that I was going to hike the Appalachian Trail. It covers all aspects of "thruhiking" the AT, not just facts but the feel. In August, I finished my thruhike and still feel that Luxenberg's book is right-on. If you love hiking and adventure, this book will give you future dreams.

I am a serious cook with a large cookbook library. I am a Southerner who made my first biscuits and gravy at age 5. This book is a not-so-well done re-hash of other Foxfires and sorely disappointing. It is difficult to use as a cookbook-more poignant than useful. Also a tad light on recipes. A much better book from North Georgia (Southern Appalachia, like the Foxfire series) is Smokehouse Ham, Spoon Bread & Scuppernong Wine: The Folklore and Art of Southern Appalachian Cooking. I use this one a lot, enjoy reading the stories, and frequently give it as gift to visiting Yankees. Plus it has the wit, charm, and authenticity so sadly missing from the Foxfire Cookbook.

Got this as a gift and what a treat it is proving to be. It is a book that is really helping me broaden my homesteading skills and I adore the running dialogue and photographs that show the how to's and bring back wonderful memories of growing up.

The recipes are good and easy and delicious and I like the discussion of how to dress out livestock and wild game as well as how to make crock pickles and things like sauerkraut which I love doing. I also like, but some people may be turned off by the meat section that deals with waste not want not, and how to make use of most of the animal one slaughters. Something my family knew well when I was growing up.

This is also a good book is someone simply wants to learn about how self sufficiency works and how most people used to live, especially in rural areas.

It is my favorite and most usable of all the Foxfire books.

I have bought many, many cookbooks not for cooking, but for reading. My favorite format in cookbooks are those where text is woven with recipes; it 'fleshes out' the recipes.

Anyone who has derived pleasure from reading the Foxfire series over the years will also want to buy this one. It follows the general Foxfire format, specialized for cooking. It will be of particular value for those young people interested in cooking. As becomes apparent, cooking in this country used to be quite different from what we consider it now. For most Americans, by the end of WW II kitchens had been transformed by the addition of running water and gas/electric powered appliances. My grandparents didn't get electricity in their rural location until 1948. Before then, there was a kerosene-powered refrigerator, gasoline-powered washer, and wood stove. It took longer for many in the Appalachian region, and 'old' cooking methods continued to be used. Fixing chicken, for example, meant killing and plucking, not going to the grocery store!

History always becomes more immediate when it can be related to 'real' people. The characters in this book come to life with the sensitive narration, and only grow in depth with re-reading.

I've tried some of the recipes in this book, especially those related to baking. All have worked well. Mere recipes, though, can't communicate the commitment and love that these people have given to their efforts.

This is a great book to read, and a good pathway to cooking methods of our ancestors. Comprehensive, and an excellent buy!

In preparation to write this review Ive had to stop and calm down many times. Its a terrible crime what Mr. Adams has done by his demeaning photos of the peoples of Appalachia. Being one of them I understand there plight to better themselves As Mr. Adams should. He him self is from Appalachia, the same area he returns to for his subject mater. The difference between him and the people still there is they don't go to his home in Boston and take demeaning photos of him. And sell them for profit. The people I have met have know idea he is making money from his sales, (or that he is selling them at all) they believe they can trust him after all he is one of there own. Apparently they were mistaken. Most don't have any Idea about the internet or how demeaning they are being portrayed.

One rainy afternoon this spring while walking the streets of the French Quarter,I discovered Shelby Lee Adams in the fine art gallery of VICKIE BASSETTI.Not only his portaits but a collection of his books.I was blown away! For me his portraits of the Appalachians ARE haunting.One might want to look away from such poverty,dirt,and assumed saddness..but I found, just the reverse.I wanted to look closer,to feel the importance of the artist Adams,and the story he was showing through the lens of his eye.And to realize THIS IS AMERICA !
I say THANK YOU MR. ADAMS for the quality of your work and the artistry of your portraits that gives dignity to a world most AMERICANS rarely choose to see.

Shelby Lee Adams is wonderful photographer. I am from Kentucky, and although the photographs are not typical of most people of the area, they definitely document part of the dying culture of Appalachia...people like the ones pictured do exist!
Some feel that Adams' photos are demeaning to the subjects. I don't feel this way at all. Instead, I feel that he is portraying his subjects as something interesting and worth documenting. Anyone offended by the photos has their own bias against the subjects.
The pictures in this book are also among the most interesting photos I have ever seen. Every time you look at one of Shelby Lee Adams' photos, you see something new and interesting about it. I highly recommend this book. This guy is my favorite photographer!

Follow our holier-than-thou hiker hero through the trail as he looks down his nose at Christians, carnivores, tourists, hunters, Southerners, European settlers (typical PC liberal dogma) and, interestingly, fellow thru-hikers. But particularly disdainful to this ego-maniac are the lazy "weekend warriors." Hint - that's you and me - the 4 MILLION plus users that ruin it for the hundreds of thru-studs. Day hikers are good for two things: 1. bumming food and rides from and 2. asking stupid questions. And of course, our hero has to be the fastest thing on the trail! We're constantly bombarded with how strong he feels as he pours on the mileage and blows past fellow hikers (incredibly, only one other character reaches Katahdin before him, and that is of course because he is laid up in the hospital for a week.) The arbitrary lines he draws that prove that he does the trail correctly, while others do it wrong are incredible. It's OK for him to cut a corner in a town, but not for a fellow hiker to take a "blue blaze" shortcut around a peak, even if the view is better! Heck, Mr. Illig, you're all walking from Georgia to Maine -- get over it! I did have some favorite parts, though. The book opens with a self effacing hiker who hikes in sneakers and carries ridiculous provisions (canned tomatoes, snowshoes,an abdominizer, etc.) He humbly pokes fun at himself, and if he could have carried this character through the adventure, the book would have been a fine read. Unfortunately, the Mr. Hyde ego-man emerges too soon. One curious section is on pg. 155, where the author mentions his future in-laws, and makes them sound like complete morons. The reader (who's fed up by now) can only smile at the real life fun around the next family Thanksgiving tofu-turkey. But my favorite part is on pg 129, where he leaves a small Pennsylvania town and "Some kids in a car drove by and yelled 'Asshole!' " My only thought was "how did they know?"

Neither a technical how to, nor a deep, introspective philosophical exercise, as are most books of this genre, Trail Ways Path Wise is a refreshing, "Hey, come along and try this with me" story. If you want to know what it's REALLY like to through-hike the A.T., this is THE book you must read. It's too bad the trail isn't another thousand miles longer so that our walk, and the book, might be longer too. Thanks for letting me walk along with you John.

This book made both my wife and myself laugh out loud. Illig and his book are very down to earth. The profusion of typos is distracting, but if you can ignore that, this is a sometimes hilarious, definite pageturner of a trail book that will entertain and make you want to get out and hike. But did Illig marry his girlfriend? This book could use an Afterword. Highly recommended.

As a professional forester in Appalachia, I was enthralled by the historical perspectives presented in this book, and appalled by some of the statements the author made. The obvious and uninformed anti-logging approach to the national forests of Appalachia sounds really good, but come to the Daniel Boone and you will understand what devastation this has brought us. Uncontrollable wildfires, outbreaks of insects that threaten whole habitats and species, and economic hardships on an already depressed area. Management of our forests for multiple uses is essential. At the same time, the author interviews and praises the wife of a logger who brags about diameter limit cutting, which is just a fancy name for high-grading, which further degrades the forest.

If this topic interests you, read the first couple of chapters, and then move on. The rest of the book is the same old droll that the public is barraged with on a daily basis. This book sure had potential.

I thought this book had several very interesting chapters and a few chapters with a bit too much literary license. The transplanted writer was trying to get the inside perpective of Applachian life. Overall I enjoyed this book. I would recommend it to readers interested in history and foresty.

This is easily the best book on the forests of the Appalachian Mountains I have ever read. It educates the reader in depth about the human and natural history and the ecology of this most fascinating and diverse of North American forests. At the same time, the book is so well researched and written that the reader is held riveted from the first sentence to the final word. I couldn't put it down.

The chapter about the American chestnut--the finest treatment of this subject I have seen--gives to the majority of us who took little notice of what we lost when the chestnut died out an understanding of the true scope of that tragedy. Then the reader is given hope that, through the work of a few dedicated botanists, the chestnut may again grace these beautiful mountains and valleys and coves with its presence and bless their inhabitants with its bounty.

Equally thorough treatments of other species of trees, of various forms of wildlife, of the forest as a whole, and of the people who have lived there occur throughout the book. Anyone even remotely interested in the natural treasures of our land must read The Appalachian Forest.

I'm probably spoiled by the AMC guides for New England, but I found this book to be somewhat uninvting and lacking in some key areas. The maps weren't all that great they clearly aren't for a guy from the north east who's trying to find his way through the red dirt maze that is North Georgia. Directions to the trailheads could be markedly improved, as some (particularly the ones I used) use forest service roads that park rangers (let alone easily purchased maps) don't know well.

The copy and descriptions are good once I got to the trailhead, and organized linearly along the trail. I really enjoyed the plots of trail elevation over distance.

I used this book to plan my first trip to the AT with a group of Boy Scouts. It was extremely useful in selecting my route. Especially useful was the trail summary in the beginning of each chapter. Also equally useful was the hike itinerary, giving distances between significant points. I found, however, the linear trail profile to be slightly misleading on a few sections of the trail. (More useful was the profile found in The Appalachian Trail Official Map from the Appalachian Trail conference.) This day hike book was perfect for my 5 day trip because each hike begins where the other left off. This was vital in my planning and I would highly recommend it for anyone needing a detailed description of the trail. Oh, and don't forget your hand lens. :)

I checked this book out of my local library and found it to be the most informative book on the AT. The sections of the AT that I have personally hiked were very well covered in this book.It is very difficult to find accurate maps with tons of land marks and information the terrain. As well as a well thought out itinerary so you may better gauge your time and enjoy the trail, rather than worrying about where you are going to find water and shelter. So now I'm on amazon.com to buy this book to use on my next visit to the AT.

This is a marvelously warm and engaging story that is told in three parts about a family deep in the Southern mountains and how they made their lives and dreams unfold. The stories are said to be based on Robert Morgan's own family tales and they carry on the feel of the elders of the family telling the youngsters about life and living and it's true meaning. The dialogue is deceptively simple, creating a warm undercurrent to the intensity of the memories being shared. I adore Robert Morgan and his ability to create such wondrous everyday characters that reach beyond themselves to find love, faith and strength.

Imagine as a small child you sat down in the cozy little living room of your grandmother's home with your brothers and sisters and perhaps a few cousins and your grandma starting sharing stories about her early life. It's in the first person and she's telling about how she came to meet your grandpa and how they made a life together and what it was like opening the West. Now I don't meet the Far West but simply extending life beyond the coastal area of North Carolina inland toward the Mountains and into Tennessee in the 1700s. That's the delightful manner in which Robert Morgan shares information in three parts of the life and times of early settlers, and specific families, around the mountain communities of Asheville, NC (that's 'ASH vul' for those not familiar with the area). There's several surprises so don't think you'll know what's coming. And the language is true to form using such words as painter when talking about a panther. An animal that has mostly been hunted into oblivion in most parts of the US. Each part is told by someone different, several generations apart but through little hooks within each story the reader is provided an opportunity to share in the joys and sorrows of each family. The book is easy reading and keeps your attention throughout and what I especially liked was the sharing of tidbits of information of what was like in those times. This is a book you won't put down once you start it.

I laughed so much during the second part of this book. A young man runs 20 some miles through the forest holding onto a pig's tail with one hand and a hatchet in the other hand to chop a trail for the first road in the area. His adventures during that memorable day make great reading and a good laugh. Anyone who loves the south and mountain folks will appreciate this book from Robert Morgan.

I bought this book because I am planning a thru hike of the AT in the next few years. Though the book started off well enough, it quickly disintegrated into a 150 page treatise on whining. The format of the book is also awful: two hikers made the trek (Trail names were Midnight and Out of Africa), but unfortunately, Midnight hogs 90% of the narrative. This becomes increasingly stressful to the reader because Midnight is the most whining, complaining and unlikable character I have ever encountered in any other AT narrative. Out of Africa, on the other hand, is immensely likeable, gritty, real and determined. I wanted to get to know her better because she had grest soul and verve. Yet she only narrates a tiny fraction of the book and is never more than a shadow participant. Her writing ability is leagues above Midnight's, but she was seldom seen within in the pages of this book. What a pity.

The differences in their personalities mirrors the differences in their writing styles. Midnight is terribly uninteresting and complains about the slick, wet rocks on the trail on every single page. It almost becomes ludicrous as the reader chuckles to themselves, "Alright, how many sentences on this page before the obligatory complaints about the slippery wet rocks?" Sure enough, every page contains repetitive and extremely boring, whining tantrums about how she cried every time she encountered a wet rock, how she slipped, fell, whined, etc. Enough already! Don't attempt the Appalachian trail thinking it will be a meandering stroll in the woods.

In addition, Midnight litters the book with religious sentiments, which were unappreciated. Incredibly, her miraculous parents follow her around in a van, stopping to re-supply her at many stops through the first 1400 miles of her journey. This is an unheard-of luxury for thru hikers, and though Midnight is appreciative, her whining never lets up. The minute her parent leave, yet another wet rock causes her to experience agonies of self-doubt and the reader is forced to skip increasing amount of text to avoid this maudlin self-absorption.

Out of Africa is a trooper, and never complains about conditions. She grins and bears it, but we hear so little from her that ultimately, the book because a frustrating experience of dealing with a childish whiner, Miss Midnight. I would heartily recommend this book had Out of Africa been the sole author, but with the inclusion of Midnight's droning, this is better avoided. If you are seriously planning an AT thru hike, purchase instead Jim Coplen's "Wild Birds Song," available on Amazon. That is a mature, sober and very readable alternative to this girlish drivel.

I have been hiking for over 6 years and I am very familiar with the Appalachian Trail, very often hiking parts of it.
This book seems to be written in a "stream of consciousness" style on the part of Melody Blaney. This is not a slick tale of how she and "Out of Africa" braved the trail without any great concerns and tribulations.
Melody writes as if she was in a confessional booth, and she is confessing to us her wonderful trek. It's true that she complains a lot, she had trouble with her ankles, her eye glasses, her self-esteem and was always full of doubts whether or not she would be able to finish the grueling trail. She talks about her reasons for doing the hike, mostly spiritual reasons; these reasons are important in that they will tell the reader (who may be going through similar self-doubts)"you are not alone, I have been there also and, If I can do it, you can, too"
This is not a primer on gear needed, food necessities along the way or a list of the best and worst shelters found in the A.T. If a reader is looking for that information, it can be found in a score of other books published in the past 15 years. However, if you want to know what's going on in the mind, and what's happening to your body and your psyche as you hike this life-changing trail, then, this is the book for you. The only complaint I have is that the book's publisher cut back on the quality of the binding to a point where the book literally began falling apart as I was nearing the last third of it.

This book is a great story of the hiking community and the bond of friendship. The two women met on the trail and supported each other through over 2,150 miles of grueling conditions. Anyone who's hiked even a portion of the Appalachian Trail knows that it's not always easy; dealing with seemingly endless rain, rocks, and other obstacles can really wear you down as the months of hiking continue. The authors show how their friendship helped them through the tough times, and also lightened the good times on the trail. As someone who got off the trail in Maine after becoming injured, I have the utmost respect for both of them for completing the entire hike.