Books in the Kentucky Bicentennial Bookshelf series

In more than two hundred years of statehood, most Kentucky women have been invisible to history. Women in Kentucky tells the stories of the ordinary women of lonely frontier farms, the women both black and white whose lives were shaped by slavery, and the laboring women of the factories and shops in rising urban centers.

In 1995, Chris Holbrook burst onto the southern literary scene with Hell and Ohio: Stories of Southern Appalachia, stories that Robert Morgan described as "elegies for land and lives disappearing under mudslides from strip mines and new trailer parks and

For centuries before Europeans came to the New World, tobacco had an important role in the religious and social life of the early peoples of Kentucky. Tobacco in Kentucky is accompanied by charts and maps illustrating the many aspects of tobacco production.

A is for Appalachia is a treasured alphabet book for children. The book introduces young readers to letters while providing an endearing look at the traditions, history, and life of Appalachia, a region with one of the oldest and most unique folk culture

With the sundering of the Union, Breckinridge joined the Confederate states, was commissioned a brigadier general, and fought valiantly at Shiloh, Chickamauga, Cold Harbor, and elsewhere before becoming secretary of war.

The story of Kentucky's newspapers is the story of our political, economic, and social life. The Newspaper Press in Kentucky, by revered Kentucky journalist Herndon J. Evans, illuminates the early days of Kentucky newspapers and their influence.

Farmer, poet, essayist, and environmental writer Wendell Berry is acclaimed for his ideas regarding the values inherent in an agricultural society. Place, community, good work, and simple pleasures are but a few of the values that form the bedrock of Berr

The old tools and wooden objects illustrated in this book are homely reminders of a time when the majestic forests of the frontier were the source not only of the pioneer's house, barn, and fences, but of his children's toys, his wife's egg basket, and a hundred other necessities and pleasures.

Kentucky in the Reconstruction Era shows how this and other forms of federal intervention angered even the most loyal white citizens, leading to Kentucky's hostility to the national administration and consequent reputation as a state dominated by ex-Confederates.

One of the lesser known stories of the Civil War is the role played by escaped slaves in the Union blockade along the Atlantic coast. From the beginning of the war, many African American refugees sought avenues of escape to the North. Due to their sheer n

Alarmed by infringements upon American commerce during the Napoleonic Wars, Kentuckians were early proponents of war with Great Britain. Kentucky's involvement in the agitation for war and in the war itself had political, social, and psychological consequences for the Commonwealth.

A former Sunday school teacher and Hollywood actor, Ronald Reagan was an unlikely candidate for president. His charisma, conviction, and leadership earned him the governorship of California, from which he launched his successful bid to become the fortieth

One of the most renowned Washington insiders of the twentieth century, Clark Clifford (1906--1998) was a top advisor to four Democratic presidents. As a powerful corporate attorney, he advised Harry S. Truman, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, and Jimmy Ca

In the long history of European prose, few works have been more influential and popular than Amadis of Gaul. It is a landmark work among the knight-errantry tales and probably derives from an oral tradition. Although its original author is unknown, it was

I was a junior Congressman, then I became a senior Congressman, then I went to the Senate and became a junior Senator, and then I became a senior Senator; Dear Alben: Mr. Barkley of Kentucky traces Kentucky civil servant Alben Barkley's life from humble beginnings in rural Kentucky to the seats of power in the nation's capital.

David Wendel Yandell was the most distinguished physician of a family noted for its contributions to the medical profession over a period of generations.

Mr. Caudill makes an eloquent plea for Kentuckians to reclaim the resources that lie in their mountains and to demand their fair share of the wealth generated by those resources.

In the nineteenth century, Kentucky was one of the nation's leading producers of racehorses, whiskey, tobacco -- and new counties.

From the 1780s, when Louisville and Lexington were tiny clusters of houses in the wilderness, to the 1980s, when more than half of all Kentuckians live in urban areas, the growth of cities has affected nearly all aspects of life in the Commonwealth.

As an outpost of the advancing frontier, Kentucky played a crucial military role. Kentucky's state militia, which, under federal law, enrolled every able-bodied male citizen aged eighteen to forty-five, helped to secure the West for white settlers during the bloody Indian wars.

The eleven stories in Nothing Like An Ocean confirm the promise of Jim Tomlinson's award-winning debut, Things Kept, Things Left Behind. Set in and around the fictional town of Spivey, Kentucky, the stories spotlight small-town lives that are thrown into

Kentucky attracted an amazing variety of would-be settlers in pioneer days, but none with brighter talent than John James Audubon.

This informative book shows how the influence of Kentucky Standard breeding spread across the nation and finally around the world. Here is the story of the horses and farms, the men and women who made it possible. Rich with anecdote and founded on a unique store of learning, it will delight both the newcomer to the sport and the lifelong devotee.