Aaron D. Purcell, the head of special collections at the Virginia Tech library, does an outstanding job of bringing together well-published experts to paint a picture of Appalachians displaced by government projects ranging from national parks to Oak Ridge and from TVA to Duke Power. The fact that this is a short review in no way signals that I disrespect this book or denigrate the importance of this subject. It is simply easy to describe both my friend, Aaron, and his latest book. The shortness of this review is exacerbated by the fact the UT Press, inexplicitly, does not bother to solicit blurbs from readers. I have never been paid for providing a blurb for a soon-to-be published book. We provide blurbs for publlishers because we love to promote a book we like and because it gives us exposure as “experts.” When I sell books to academic libraries, they often immediately place a book in their “to buy” pile once they have seen a blurb about it by a person they respect or once a blurb has revealed the value of the book. I assume the same thing happens with readers and librarians when they read a blurb on a publisher’s website or on Amazon. End of rant.
Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2021. 283 pages with an Index, Notes, and several photos. Hardback with pictorial cover.