Beginning in the 1940s, James S. Brown began studying the Tegis Creek community in Clay County, Kentucky, for his sociology dissertation at Harvard University. The fact that he was born and raised in Pike County, Kentucky, helped him gain access to this community so familiar to him from his own experience. His work continued for about 50 years until his retirement as a University of Kentucky professor. At that point Professor Dwight Billings continued the work that Brown had begun, so that now this represents the longest-standing longitudinal study of a mountain community ever! In 2000, Billings published The Road to Poverty (in print for $58.99) revealing his follow-up work, but the study continues. Not a lot of copies of this book were printed, and it remains one of the most valuable books in our field of study.
Berea, Kentucky: Berea College Press, 1988 - 297 pages with a Bibliography and two Appendices.