Book on the history of Western NC.

[SkinsNDeacs]

Does anyone know of a good one?

(if you are going to make a joke at least make it a good one)

 

[Biff Tannen]

Go see it live!

http://www.horninthewest.com/

 

[wakephan09]

Not historical, really, but read Cold Mountain and Look Homeward, Angel. I know few better depictions of Western NC.

 

[SkinsNDeacs]

Read Look Homeward, Angel and You Can't Go Home Again. Yes...very good.

 

[WakeForestRanger]

1. Kings Mountain and It's Heroes by Lyman C. Draper for the Revolutionary War
2. Bushwhackers by William Trotter for the Civil War
3. Western North Carolina: A History (1730-1913) by John Preston Arthur for a general history.

None of those are exactly page turners though. If you're interested in a particular incident that happened there or a more specific subject like mining history, notorious crimes, environmental history, etc..., just say what you've got in mind.

 

[TownieDeac]

I used to live a few houses down from a guy who was a Civil War historian. Clint something. He wasn't a great writer, but a fascinating dude.

ETA: this guy - http://www.clintjohnsonbooks.com/biography.html

 

[SkinsNDeacs]

1. Kings Mountain and It's Heroes by Lyman C. Draper for the Revolutionary War
2. Bushwhackers by William Trotter for the Civil War
3. Western North Carolina: A History (1730-1913) by John Preston Arthur for a general history.

None of those are exactly page turners though. If you're interested in a particular incident that happened there or a more specific subject like mining history, notorious crimes, environmental history, etc..., just say what you've got in mind.

General history but would like something written more recently than #3. I was born and raised in Asheville and I was thinking that I would like to know more about this history of the place.

 

[tsywake]

Have you tried the Images of America Series of Books? They're most old pictures, but they cover a wide array of topics. I've used them as a springboard to look up places and events.

 

[WakeForestRanger]

Have you tried the Images of America Series of Books? They're most old pictures, but they cover a wide array of topics. I've used them as a springboard to look up places and events.

Barnes and Noble in the Asheville Mall has pretty much all of the ones for Western North Carolina. If you're in the area, just flip through the ones on the shelf and see what jumps out at you.

Unfortunately, Arthur's book is probably the most recent one for a general history of the region as a whole. It's more of a resource book though definitely not something someone would want to read cover to cover.

 

[WakeForestRanger]

There's a Facebook group called "Asheville, the way it WAS". I would recommend posing your question there. Lots of local historians post there, so you would probably get some good suggestions.

 

[SkinsNDeacs]

There's a Facebook group called "Asheville, the way it WAS". I would recommend posing your question there. Lots of local historians post there, so you would probably get some good suggestions.

Awesome...thanks! Will do.

 

[WinkinDeac]

John Ehle, from Asheville, lives in W-S (Married to spiderman's Aunt May, for realz)

Wikipedia:
Ehle's first novel, Move Over Mountain, was published by Hodder & Stoughton of London in 1957. The following year, Ehle returned with a biography The Survivor: The Story of Eddy Hukov. In 1964, Harper & Row published perhaps his most well known book, The Land Breakers.[3] The book is a fictional account set in the late 18th century that traces the story of the first white pioneers to settle in the Appalachian wilderness of the mountains of Western North Carolina. The Land Breakers, out of print for several decades, was republished in 2006 by Press 53, a small imprint in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The Land Breakers also marked the beginning of a seven part series of historical fiction about the Appalachian region.[4]

 

[bojanglefunk]

More civil war. http://www.amazon.com/The-Heart-Confederate-Appalachia-Carolina/dp/0807855030

 

[WakeForestRanger]

Our Southern Highlanders is a good read.

 

[SkinsNDeacs]

There's a Facebook group called "Asheville, the way it WAS". I would recommend posing your question there. Lots of local historians post there, so you would probably get some good suggestions.

This Facebook group is awesome. I have wasted an entire night going exploring it. Thanks!

 

[silk]

Reading "Clapton's Guitar". Not a history though. True story about a guitar maker in the mountains near Galax, Va.
Kinda slow.

 

[DeacWatcher]

http://www.ashvegas.com/

 

[Rolfe]

Have you tried the Images of America Series of Books? They're most old pictures, but they cover a wide array of topics. I've used them as a springboard to look up places and events.

This is a pretty cool niche product that makes for easy Christmas shopping for the old people. Figure out where they grew up, order the book, and score for looking like you put more effort into it than a Ruby Tuesday's gift card from CVS.

 

[Wuffey]

Read "Stand Up That Mountain" by Jay Erskine Leutze for a modern day story that also touches on the history of the Appalachian trail and the area around Boone, NC. I'll see if I can't get a few other recommendations from some friends in the area.