Where There Are Mountains: An Environmental History of the Southern Appalachians

The southern Appalachian Mountains have been raped, robbed, and pillaged for centuries. Where There Are Mountains casts new light on a largely ignored subject, illustrating the cultural and environmental developments that have occurred in southern Appalachia from an interdisciplinary approach. Where There Are Mountains is an impressively researched and persuasively argued environmental history of Appalachia. . . . It is a fresh and original piece of work. Rigorous scholarship, accessible prose, and evocative description . . . Anyone who harbors lingering doubts about the value of marrying Appalachian Studies to environmental history should read Don Davis's book. It will lay these doubts to rest. [A] well-written narrative that is readily accessible to general readers. One can easily understand why this work won an award for outstanding writing on the Southern environments. . . . [T]his book remains the single best introduction to the subject for general readers and undergraduate students, so the paperback edition is welcome. The book is lively, clear and enjoyable. . . . I recommend this book as a great introduction to the environmental issues of the past in the Southern Appalachia, which still affect us today. Offers a fresh perspective on the ways we can understand economic, cultural, and environmental change. A valuable contribution to the growing list of works on southern environmental history. All too often, regional histories limit their scope to contemporary political boundaries, ignoring the fact that nature seldom respects lines on a map. Where There Are Mountains bucks that trend as it takes up the ambitious task of chronicling the southern Appalachians as a unified ecological and cultural locale. . . . Davis understands that history is just as much a process of the land shaping us, often more so than we shaping it.