Encyclopedia of Appalachia.

Encyclopedia of Appalachia. Edited by Rudy Abramson and Jean Haskell. (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2006. Pp. xxviii, 1832. $79.95, ISBN 1-57233-456-8.) This extremely useful reference book has been ten years in the making: planning for it began at the 1995 annual meeting of the Appalachian Studies Association. The editors acknowledge that their work was inspired in part by Charles Reagan Wilson and William Ferris, eds., Encyclopedia of Southern Culture (Chapel Hill, 1989); and, appropriately, Ferris provides a foreword to the Encyclopedia (Appalachia. The new volume more than lives up to the high standards set by its predecessor. Following a brief introduction, the editors arrange the more than two thousand entries under five major topic headings: "The Landscape," "The People," "Work and the Economy," "Cultural Traditions," and "Institutions." "Cultural Traditions" contains twelve of the thirty smaller sections that make up the book and is by far the longest of the five overarching categories. Each of the thirty sections has one or more editors and covers such ground as "Ecology," the "Urban Appalachian Experience," "Tourism," "Religion," and "Health." The encyclopedia entries within each section are then arranged alphabetically, followed by a list of contributors and a detailed index. Inevitably, one can quibble about the inclusion (or exclusion) of particular entries, but the book achieves an impressive unity and breadth of coverage. An introductory essay that explains the history and significance of the particular topic begins each of the thirty sections, and along with the editors' introduction to the volume, these short overviews capture the complexity of the field of Appalachian studies. One recurring question involves defining the scope of the region. The volume's editors adopt "the definition of Appalachia used by the federal government, more specifically the Appalachian Regional Commission" (p. xxi). As of 2005 this politically charged map included 410 counties situated in thirteen states, ranging from New York to Ohio to Mississippi. But as the editors point out, the book "also reflects the reality of a 'core' region where the affinity of history, culture, the economy, and the mountain land is strongest" (p. xxiii). As a result, most entries are concerned with the highland areas that typical nonspecialists think of as the southern Appalachian region, though section editors vary in their geographical inclusiveness. The refutation of negative stereotypes has long been one of the driving impulses in Appalachian studies; thus, a large number of essays and entries address the gap between depiction and reality. Another important theme is the extent to which Appalachian culture is distinctive. Moreover, on some matters one can find conflicting viewpoints. For example, one section editor mentions that in recent years migration into Appalachia has brought net gains in population, due in part to "returning migrants who have retired and who want to live once again near home" (p. 292); however, another essayist takes pains to point out that "few people over the age of fifty-five are entering the region" (p. 352). Debates about such complicated issues make the volume enjoyable to read at length as well as to consult for specific bits of information. The publication of the Encyclopedia of Appalachia will likely be placed alongside the debut of the Appalachian Journal in 1972 and the creation of the Appalachian Studies Association in 1977 as a landmark event in the maturing field of Appalachian studies.