The cover of the Song Cave edition of Valley of the Many-Colored Grasses by Ronald Johnson

Lines of Poetry, Rows of Trees

Ronald Johnson’s Valley of the Many-Colored Grasses, newly re-issued, offers entry into the work of a pioneering master collagist.
Barrels of whiskey are opened and poured into a blending vat below, circa 1940.

Bourbon Country

Examining the ingredients—time, grain, government regulations—that have made bourbon an enduring national favorite.
Women from Boston and Charleston, West Virginia, holding signs, demonstrating against textbooks, Washington, D.C., 1975

When a Battle to Ban Textbooks Became Violent

In 1974, the culture wars came to Kanawha County, West Virginia, inciting protests over school curriculum.
Children walk along the tracks in what remains of their community along Buffalo Creek on Feb. 27, 1972.

The Tragedy at Buffalo Creek

The historic Buffalo Creek flood tore through a region often exploited by industry—and stereotyped by outsiders.
Appalachian Mountains dialect

The Legendary Language of the Appalachian “Holler”

Is the unique Appalachian dialect the preserved language of Elizabethan England? Left over from Scots-Irish immigrants? Or something else altogether?