University of Tennessee Press – förlag

"Take the backroads, not the highways," Minnie Pearl often said—a sentiment that captures her life's winding, unpredictable journey. Born Sarah Ophelia Colley in 1912, she grew up in Centerville, Tennessee. This small-town upbringing inspired her imagined hometown of Grinder's Switch.During the Great Depression, Sarah moved to Nashville to study theater at the Ward-Belmont School. After graduating, she joined a touring theater company and performed throughout the Southeast. It was on the road, in 1936, that she met and stayed with Mattie Burden. Mattie became the inspiration for Minnie Pearl's iconic persona—a witty country girl known for her signature greeting and straw hat with a dangling price tag.Minnie Pearl's big break came in 1940 when a friend of a WSM radio executive saw her perform and recommended her for the Grand Ole Opry. Her debut marked the beginning of a career that spanned more than fifty years. Garth Brooks later remarked, "When she walked out, everybody waited for the 'How-dee!' It's just two syllables, one word, but every time she said it—it felt like it was just for you."At the Opry, the "Queen of Country Comedy" shared the spotlight with legends like Patsy Cline and Hank Williams. After World War II, she became a mentor and matriarch, befriending a young June Carter and warming up the crowd for Johnny Cash's Opry debut in 1955.Throughout her career, Cannon skillfully balanced her dual roles as Minnie and Sarah. Whether at the Opry, on the road, or on Hee Haw, Minnie remained a trusted friend to female performers like Dolly Parton, Tanya Tucker, and Reba McEntire. As k.d. lang noted, "Minnie understood where country music needed to go and who it needed to embrace. She was a visionary."Rich with 155 historic photographs, this definitive biography covers the many chapters of Sarah Cannon's life. Drawing from archives and interviews with those who knew her, Howdy! The Minnie Pearl Story, captures not only Cannon's enduring humor and impact, but also the woman behind the laughter.

One of the deadliest phases of the Holocaust, the Nazi regime’s “Operation Reinhard” produced three major death camps–Belzec, Treblinka, and Sobibor–which claimed the lives of 1.8 million Jews. In the 1960s, a small measure of justice came for those victims when a score of defendants who had been officers and guards at the camps were convicted of war crimes in West German courts. The conviction rates varied, however. While all but one of fourteen Treblinka defendants were convicted, half of the twelve Sobibor defendants escaped punishment, and only one of eight Belzec defendants was convicted. Also, despite the enormity of the crimes, the sentences were light in many cases, amounting to only a few years in prison.In this meticulous history of the Operation Reinhard trials, Michael S. Bryant examines a disturbing question: Did compromised jurists engineer acquittals or lenient punishments for proven killers? Drawing on rarely studied archival sources, Bryant concludes that the trial judges acted in good faith within the bounds of West German law. The key to successful prosecutions was eyewitness testimony. At Belzec, the near-total efficiency of the Nazi death machine meant that only one survivor could be found to testify. At Treblinka and Sobibor, however, prisoner revolts had resulted in a number of survivors who could give firsthand accounts of specific atrocities and identify participants. The courts, Bryant finds, treated these witnesses with respect and even made allowances for conflicting testimony. And when handing down sentences, the judges acted in accordance with strict legal definitions of perpetration, complicity, and action under duress.Yet, despite these findings, Bryant also shows that West German legal culture was hardly blameless during the postwar era. Though ready to convict the mostly working class personnel of the death camps, the Federal Republic followed policies that insulated the judicial elite from accountability for its own role in the Final Solution. While trial records show that the “bias” of West German jurists was neither direct nor personal, the structure of the system ensured that lawyers and judges themselves avoided judgment.

Richly illustrated and easily accessible, Appalachian Plants draws on centuries of botanical, cultural, and spiritual connections to the land as it invites readers of all ages into the vibrant world of southern Appalachia. Featuring regional staples such as ramps, tobacco, pawpaw, mountain mint, and white pine alongside more recent horticultural additions like rhubarb, persimmons, and sugar maples, the book presents a layered portrait of Appalachian flora. While author Linda Hager Pack provides scientific names and physical characteristics of each plant, her work goes beyond botany as each entry is enlivened with Native American legends, traditional folk remedies, historic recipes, and Appalachian lore that reveal the deeply rooted significance of plants in this storied region.The book honors the long history of plant use among the Cherokee and other Native American peoples of Appalachia, who developed sophisticated systems of herbal medicine, seasonal harvesting, and spiritual practices. From white pine salves to pawpaw fruit tonics, their knowledge shaped generations of land stewardship and ecological understanding. Additionally, European settlers brought seeds, farming practices, and folk beliefs from their home countries as well, adapting Old World crops and customs to mountain life. Meanwhile, African American enslaved people, servants, and free men and women also contributed a wealth of agricultural knowledge and medicinal plant traditions, immeasurably influencing the evolution of Appalachian foodways and herbal practices.This blending of traditions created a rich ethnobotanical legacy, one rooted in survival, community, and respect for the natural world. Featuring beautiful watercolor illustrations by Pat Banks and supported by instructional resources, this book serves both as a unique field guide and a cultural history of Appalachia. It invites readers to explore not just the uses of plants, but the stories they carry—across generations, geographies, and peoples—within the living landscape of Appalachia.

The son of black sharecroppers, John Oliver Hodges attended segregated schools in Greenwood, Mississippi, in the 1950s and ’60s, worked in plantation cotton fields, and eventually left the region to earn multiple degrees and become a tenured university professor. Both poignant and thought provoking, Delta Fragments is Hodges’s autobiographical journey back to the land of his birth. Brimming with vivid memories of family life, childhood friendships, the quest for knowledge, and the often brutal injustices of the Jim Crow South, it also offers an insightful meditation on the present state of race relations in America.Hodges has structured the book as a series of brief but revealing vignettes grouped into two main sections. In part 1, “Learning,” he introduces us to the town of Greenwood and to his parents, sister, and myriad aunts, uncles, cousins, teachers, and schoolmates. He tells stories of growing up on a plantation, dancing in smoky juke joints, playing sandlot football and baseball, journeying to the West Coast as a nineteen-year-old to meet the biological father he never knew while growing up, and leaving family and friends to attend Morehouse College in Atlanta. In part 2, “Reflecting,” he connects his firsthand experience with broader themes: the civil rights movement, Delta blues, black folkways, gambling in Mississippi, the vital role of religion in the African American community, and the perplexing problems of poverty, crime, and an underfunded educational system that still challenge black and white citizens of the Delta.Whether recalling the assassination of Medgar Evers (whom he knew personally), the dynamism of an African American church service, or the joys of reconnecting with old friends at a biennial class reunion, Hodges writes with a rare combination of humor, compassion, and—when describing the injustices that were all too frequently inflicted on him and his contemporaries—righteous anger. But his ultimate goal, he contends, is not to close doors but to open them: to inspire dialogue, to start a conversation, “to be provocative without being insistent or definitive.”

Camping and woodcraft; a handbook for vacation campers and for travelers in the wilderness.

One of the most notorious German spies of the twentieth century, Lothar Witzke lived a life that reads like a thriller. Convicted of espionage in 1918, he was the only German spy sentenced to death by the United States during World War I. After the war, he was pardoned by President Calvin Coolidge, only to be later accused of responsibility for one of the most spectacular acts of sabotage in US history: the Black Tom munitions depot explosion.After being repatriated to Germany, Witzke lived in Latin America and China as a German expat and later joined the Nazi party. He ran espionage squads in Great Britain during World War II and became a prominent businessman in Hamburg after the war. He was killed in Hamburg in 1962, possibly by an East German agent as payback for suspected double agent work on behalf of the British.With Citizen of the Shadows, the first full biography of Witzke, Paul Friedland and Robert Hornick trace Witzke's morally complicated life and show readers how an infamous spy thrived in the interwar years and after. They probe his trial, conviction, and pardon, and analyze whether Witzke was really involved in the Black Tom explosion. In doing so, the authors uncover that many of the details of Witzke's life—long assumed to be true—were lies.

Chimborazo Hospital, just outside Richmond, Virginia, served as the Confederacy’s largest hospital for four years. During this time, it treated nearly eighty thousand patients, boasting a mortality rate of just over 11 percent. This book, the first full-length study of a facility that was vital to the Southern war effort, tells the story of those who lived and worked at Chimborazo.Organized by Dr. James Brown McCaw, Chimborazo was an innovative hospital with well-trained physicians, efficient stewards, and a unique supply system. Physicians had access to the latest medical knowledge and specialists in Richmond. The hospital soon became a model for other facilities. The hospital’s clinical reputation grew as it established connections with the Medical College of Virginia and hosted several drug and treatment trials requested by the Confederate Medical Department.In fascinating detail, Chimborazo recounts the issues, trials, and triumphs of a Civil War hospital. Based on an extensive study of hospital and Confederate Medical Department records found at the National Archives, along with other primary sources, the study includes information on the patients, hospital stewards, matrons, and slaves who served as support staff. Since Chimborazo was designated as an independent army post, the book discusses other features of its organization, staff, and supply system as well. This careful examination describes the challenges facing the hospital and reveals the humanity of those who lived and worked there.

The garage—whether used for automobile storage, parking, repair, or sales—has been an American commonplace for so long that it is surprising how little attention it has drawn from scholars tracing the country’s architectural and cultural heritage. In this compellingly written and profusely illustrated book, John Jakle and Keith Sculle—two of the nation’s foremost experts on “Roadside America”—bring their analytical acumen and meticulous research skills to bear on the remarkably rich history of this overlooked feature of the U.S. landscape. Beginning with the days when only the wealthy could afford cars (and their chauffeurs doubled as mechanics), the authors show how blacksmiths and carriage repairmen quickly adapted to the increasing ubiquity of the automobile. Noting differences from region to region as well as between large cities and smaller population centres, they look at the growth of car dealerships, with their separation of service and sales floors, and the parallel rise of small, independent repair shops—businesses that have steadily disappeared from the national scene, though some of the buildings that once housed them have survived, refitted for other purposes. The domestic garage—first conceived as a detached structure, then integrated with the house itself—gets its own chapter. And throughout, the authors explore the various ways in which concerns with practicality, commerce, and aesthetics have dictated how garages were laid out and constructed and what services they offered. A worthy complement to the authors’ earlier collaborative studies of the gas station and the parking lot, The Garage will engage an eclectic audience of architectural and material-culture specialists, historic preservationists, antique car enthusiasts, local historians, and others fascinated by the impact of the automobile on early America and its legacy in the built environment of modern communities.

No other book on the Southern Appalachians is more widely known or cited.  "Awonderful book. I like it especially for its color and anecdotes. It is a classic, not only for its accuracy and breadth of insights into the people of the region, but because these people themselves are so interesting and strong."—Annie Dillard, author of Pilgrim at Tinker Creek

Country music grew up in Tennessee, drawing from sources in the white rural music of East and Middle Tennessee, from the church music of country singing conventions, and from the black music of the Memphis area.  The author traces the vital role played by Tennessee and its musicians in the development of this unique American art form.

Hernando De Soto’s invasion of Indian lands in 1540 marked the onslaught of great change in the lives of Tennessee’s Native Americans. Although these first Tennesseans boasted a cultural heritage of thousands of years, only three centuries of contact with the white man elapsed before their population was decimated and the remnants driven out. The Indians were a settled people when de Soto visited, not the savage or exotic woods creatures so often depicted. Tennessee’s Indian Peoples, then, is a story of men and women – human beings. Author, Ronald N. Satz tells how the Cherokees, Chickasaws, Creeks, Shawnees, and other Indian peoples lived, reared families, farmed and hunted, worshipped, played, fought, and governed themselves. He describes also the eventful destruction of their societies – destroyed not only by external pressures for Indian lands, but also by internal change wrought by increasing dependence on the white man’s trade goods.Ronald N. Satz is Dean of Graduate Studies and University Research and teaches history at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. In addition to numerous articles and book reviews, his published work includes American Indian Policy in the Jacksonian Era (1975). He has received fellowships from both the Ford Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Professor Satz has served as a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of the American Indian Quarterly.

Colorful, dramatic, blundering, and tragic – these are some of the adjectives that have been applied to the two-day engagement at Shiloh. This battle, which bears the biblical name meaning “place of peace,” was one of the bloodiest encounters of the Civil War. The Union colonel, whose words give the present book its title, foretold the losses when he told his men: “Fill your canteens Boys! Some of you will be in hell before night….”Fought in the early spring of 1862 on the west bank of the Mississippi state line, Shiloh was, up to that time, the biggest battle of American history. One hundred thousand men were involved, and major Civil War commanders such as Grant, Sherman, Johnston, Beauregard, Bragg, and Forrest participated. The battle took the life of Johnston and it left a lasting impact on the reputation of other commanders. More-over, it played a significant role in the campaign for control of the Mississippi Valley.Although hundreds of books have been written about the Civil War and its battle, questions about the disorganized struggle at Shiloh have continued to perplex historians. Why was Grant absent when his army was attacked? Why did Grant and Sherman apparently ignore evidence of a Confederate advance? What happened to Lew Wallace that he never got his division into the fight on the first day of battle? Why did it take the Rebels so long to make their way from Corinth to the battlefield? Did the Rebels really have a distinct opportunity to win the battle, as it seems in retrospect, or were they doomed from the start? Were Johnston and Beauregard working at cross-purposes? Shiloh-In Hell Before Night provides answers or clues to answers of clues to answers for these and other questions arising from this controversial engagement.The author tells his story by placing Shiloh in the larger context of the war and by exploring the very personal side of the conflict through the words of the Union and Confederate participants, officers and common soldiers alike. Touches of humor and even or romance are revealed in the midst of the carnage, but the overriding element is the specter of death. Among those who survived, the soldiers who had been eager to “see the elephant,” as they commonly referred to combat, could never again feel so eager for a fight.James Lee McDonough is professor of history at Auburn University, and the author of Stones River – Bloody Winter in Tennessee, Chattanooga – A Death Grip on the Confederacy, and the co-author of Five Tragic Hours: The Battle of Franklin.

Oak Ridge, Tennessee, was created by the U.S. government during World War II to aid in the construction of the first atomic bomb. Drawing on oral history and previously classified material, this book portrays the patterns of daily life in this unique setting.

Few black groups in the United States carry with them the romance, the gripping history, the pathos, the indestructible spirit of the Coe Ridge colony during the ninety years of its existence.". . . a new and long needed departure in American historiography. . . . This is in every way an impressive book.  It contains detailed accounts of the informants, tables of folklore motifs, genealogical charts, a prologue and epilogue explaining authoritatively the hypotheses of oral traditional history, and handsome photographs of the Coe Ridge area."--Richard M. Dorson, Journal of American History.  "Lynwood Montell has written an invaluable book for all those interested in the use of oral tradition as a tool in the reconstruction of history. . . . This is a book worthy of being on any folklorist's shelf."--Richaed A. Reuss, Journal of American Folklore.

E. Stanly Godbold, Jr. (1942- ), is a historian who is writing a two-volumbe biography of Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter. His first volume was published by Oxford Univesity Press in 2010 and has attracted much attention for its positive interpretation of the Carters. He is also the author of Ellen Glasgow and the Woman Within, Christopher Gadsden and the American Revolution, and Confederate Colonel and Cherokee Chief: The Life of William Holland Thomas. He lives in Oktibbeha County, Mississippi.

This carefully edited collection of essays explores, in greater diversity and depth than has been attempted before, the relationship between film and religion. Combining perspectives from traditional film criticism and from religious studies, Religion in Film asserts that it is no longer possible to view films simply in terms of their moral impact, nor is it reasonable to limit religious meaning only to those films that make and explicit appeal to religious elements.The essays offer a variety of theoretical reflections on the religious interpretation of film, explore particular cinematic variations on the archetypal images of savior and demon, analyze significant cultural trends of a religious nature related to film, and assess thirteen sensibilities – Altman, Bergman, Bunuel, Chaplin, Coppola, Fellini, Hitchcock, Jutra, Kubrick, Peckinpah, Russell, Truffaut, and Wertmuller. The contributors provide a firm basis for analysis while respecting a variety in interpretation.As the overall structure of the book leads from the universal to the particular, from theory to individual directors and films, so its concern with religious interpretation flows naturally from the universally religious to particular religious worldviews. Among world religions, Christianity claims attention in proportion to its dominant cultural influence in the West where film has more obviously flourished.The insights and interpretations presented in these essays will be of importance to cinema scholars, film critics, and students of religion and of interest to film buffs, particularly those who are sensible of the religious dimension of films.

On December 31, 1862, some 10,000 Confederate soldiers streamed out of the dim light of early morning to stun the Federals who were still breakfasting in their camp. Nine months earlier the Confederates had charged the Yankees in a similarly devastating attack at dawn, starting the Battle of Shiloh. By the time this new battle ended, it would resemble Shiloh in other ways – it would rival that struggle’s shocking casualty toll of 24,000 and it would become a major defeat for the South. By any Civil War standard, Stones River was a monumental, bloody, and dramatic story. Yet, until now, it has had no modern, documented history. Arguing that the battle was one of the significant engagements in the war, noted Civil War historian James Lee McDonough here devotes to Stones River the attention it ahs long deserved.Stones River, at Murfreesboro, Tennessee, was the first big battle in the union campaign to seize the Nashville-Chattanooga-Atlanta corridor. Driving eastward and southward to sea, the campaign eventually climaxed in Sherman’s capture of Savannah in December 1864. At Stones River the two armies were struggling desperately for control of Middle Tennessee’s railroads and rich farms. Although they fought to a tactical draw, the Confederates retreated.The battle’s outcome held significant implications. For the Union, the victory helped offset the disasters suffered at Fredericksburg and Chickasaw Bayou. Furthermore, it may have discouraged Britain and France from intervening on behalf of the Confederacy. For the South, the battle had other crucial effects. Since in convinced many that General Braxton Bragg could not successfully command an army, Stones River left the Southern Army torn by dissension in the high command and demoralized in the ranks.One of the most perplexing Civil War battles, Stones River has remained shrouded in unresolved questions. After driving the Union right wing for almost three miles, why could the Rebels not complete the triumph? Could the Union’s Major General William S. Rosecrans have launched a counterattack on the first day of the battle? Was personal tension between Bragg and Breckenridge a significant factor in the events of the engagement’s last day?McDonough uses a variety of sources to illuminate these and other questions. Quotations from diaries, letters, and memoirs of the soldiers involved furnish the reader with a rare, soldier’s-eye view of this tremendously violent campaign. Tactics, strategies, and commanding officers are examined to reveal how personal strengths and weaknesses of the opposing generals, Bragg and Rosecrans, shaped the course of the battle. Vividly recreating the events of the calamitous battle, Stones River – Bloody Winter in Tennessee firmly establishes the importance of this previously neglected landmark in Civil War history.James Lee McDonough is professor of history at Auburn University, and author of Shiloh – In Hell before Night, Chattanooga – A Death Grip on the Confederacy, and co-author of Five Tragic Hours: The Battle of Franklin.