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West Virginia

 
West Virginia

J.R. Dodge
Introduction by Kenneth R. Bailey
October 2011
304pp
HB  978-1-935978-11-4
$24.99

  
West Virginia: Its Farms and Forests, Mines and Oil-Wells celebrates the state of West Virginia. Originally published in 1865 as a series of studies on mineral resources, observations on agriculture, and interviews with businessmen, West Virginia details the industrial statistics, terrain, and population of a state during its infancy.

With no record of natural wealth or reported transactions of agriculture or geography prior to this overview, West Virginia sparked the curiosity of non-residents, enticing investment and settlement through descriptions of abundant natural resources and an agreeable industrial condition.

With an introduction by Kenneth Bailey, this new edition of West Virginia reminds us of the state’s alluring beginning and rich, yet often exploited development.

Jacob Richards Dodge (1823-1902) was born in New Boston, New Hampshire. He was the first statistician for the U. S. Department of Agriculture. When he began his work he had one clerk and when he retired in 1893, there were sixty. He became known for his ability in gathering and presenting statistics. The government sent him on two trips to Europe to observe how other countries gathered data and to share his knowledge. He was given responsibility for compiling agricultural statistics for the Tenth Census in 1880 and in 1889 he was recognized by the international community of statisticians when he received a gold medal at the Paris Exposition for his illustrations of agricultural statistics. After retiring, Dodge became an editor of the Country Gentleman and wrote numerous articles and books. He died at age eighty at Nashua, New Hampshire.

No. 9

 
No.9

Bonnie E. Stewart
November 2011
288pp
HB  978-1-933202-78-5
$27.99

  
Ninety-nine men entered the cold, dark tunnels of the Consolidation Coal Company’s No.9 Mine in Farmington, West Virginia, on November 20, 1968.  Some were worried about the condition of the mine. It had too much coal dust, too much methane gas. They knew that either one could cause an explosion. What they did not know was that someone had intentionally disabled a safety alarm on one of the mine’s ventilation fans. That was a death sentence for most of the crew. The fan failed that morning, but the alarm did not sound. The lack of fresh air allowed methane gas to build up in the tunnels. A few moments before 5:30 a.m., the No.9 blew up.  Some men died where they stood. Others lived but suffocated in the toxic fumes that filled the mine. Only 21 men escaped from the mountain.

No.9: The 1968 Farmington Mine Disaster explains how such a thing could happen—how the coal company and federal and state officials failed to protect the 78 men who died in the mountain. Based on public records and interviews with those who worked in the mine, No.9 describes the conditions underground before and after the disaster and the legal struggles of the miners’ widows to gain justice and transform coal mine safety legislation.

Bonnie E. Stewart is Assistant Professor of Journalism at West Virginia University. She is a former investigative reporter whose work earned The George Polk Award and the national Sigma Delta Chi Award for Public Service.

Reviews

“Riveting. Chilling. Revealing. The story of Farmington Mine No. 9 belongs on everybody’s book shelf. Seventy-eight miners died during a disaster that rocked West Virginia’s coal fields 43 years ago--propelling front page headlines across the USA and a trail of safety concerns across the globe. Bonnie E. Stewart, a brilliant investigative reporter and university professor, refused to let the headlines fade away. Hail her tenacity.”
Bob Dubill, Former Executive Editor, USA TODAY

“Bonnie Stewart has written a remarkable book which deserves wide circulation. She has exhaustively researched all the documentary evidence, bolstered with scores of personal interviews. Her evidence proves without a shadow of doubt that the 78 coal miners who lost their lives in the November 20, 1968 Farmington Mine Disaster were killed because management ignored repeated personal testimony by the Farmington miners that the mine would blow up unless dangerous methane and huge collections of explosive coal dust were curbed. Those miners who repeatedly pointed out these dangers were humiliated for their efforts, and management in its greed for the almighty dollar put on intense pressure for increased production, even disabling alarm and warning systems. This book also provides fuel for those protesting mountain-top removal, by proving that the pressure for more coal must not over-ride the health and safety of human beings. “
Ken Hechler, Former Secretary of State, West Virginia

“With 78 dead and 19 never recovered, the sheer magnitude of the Farmington mine disaster focused national attention on mine safety deficiencies and led to the enactment of the first major corrective legislation in several generations. In the wake of 2010’s Upper Big Branch disaster, Bonnie Stewart’s comprehensive account is a timely reminder that all mine explosions are preventable.”
Cecil E. Roberts, International President, United Mine Workers of America

They'll Cut Off Your Project

 
They'll Cut Off Your Project

Huey Perry
Foreword by Jeff Biggers
March 2011
288pp
PB  978-1-933202-79-2
$24.95
HB  978-1-933202-80-8
$74.95
eBook  978-1-933202-93-8:
$23.99
eBook (120 Days):
$10.00

  
In old England, if a king didn’t like you, he would cut off your head. Now, if they don’t like you, they’ll cut off your project!

As the Johnson Administration initiated its war on poverty in the 1960s, the Mingo County Economic Opportunity Commission project was established in southern West Virginia. Huey Perry, a young, local history teacher was named the director of this program and soon he began to promote self-sufficiency among low-income and vulnerable populations. As the poor of Mingo County worked together to improve conditions, the local political infrastructure felt threatened by a shift in power. Bloody Mingo County, known for its violent labor movements, corrupt government, and the infamous Hatfield-McCoy rivalry, met Perry’s revolution with opposition and resistance.

In They’ll Cut Off Your Project, Huey Perry reveals his efforts to help the poor of an Appalachian community challenge a local regime. He describes this community’s attempts to improve school programs and conditions, establish cooperative grocery stores to bypass inflated prices, and expose electoral fraud. Along the way, Perry unfolds the local authority’s hostile backlash to such change and the extreme measures that led to an eventual investigation by the FBI. They’ll Cut Off Your Project chronicles the triumphs and failures of the war on poverty, illustrating why and how a local government that purports to work for the public’s welfare cuts off a project for social reform.

Huey Perry, a native of Mingo County, West Virginia and the son of coal miner, was named Director, Mingo County Economic Opportunity Commission project at the age of 29. Later, he became the director of the Low-Income Housing Project for Tech Foundation of West Virginia Institute of Technology.  He holds a BA from Berea College, Kentucky and an MA in Political Science from Marshall University, West Virginia and is an author, entrepreneur, teacher, student, volunteer, chairman, business owner,  and farmer.

Jeff Biggers is the American Book award-winning author of The United States of Appalachia, and Reckoning at Eagle Creek: The Secret Legacy of Coal in the Heartland.

Reviews

“This is a wonderful account of the poverty wars of the 1960s as they unfolded in Mingo County, West Virginia.  Inspired (and funded) by the federal war on poverty, the presumably apathetic Appalachian poor mobilized with gusto.  And so did the challenged local power structure.  Read this book to learn about this moment of American history.”
Frances Fox Piven,  Professor Political Science and Sociology, City University of New York  and author of Poor People’s Movements: How They Succeed, Why They Fail

"Huey Perry's account of the War on Poverty in West Virginia is a classic.  Nothing I have read gives such an insider's account of both of the promise of LBJ's initiative, and the way this hope was largely subverted by state and local politicians and coal companies.  The book is, as well, a quirky, funny page-turner.  I was hugely indebted to this book while writing my novel The Unquiet Earth.  WVU Press is to be commended for keeping this important account available both to historians and the general public."
Denise Giardina, author Storming Heaven and The Unquiet Earth

Praise for the first edition:

“Perry’s story, told simply and without polemics, shows how hard it is to do something that seems simple—get funds into the hands of the poor.”
Edward Magnuson, Time magazine

“This book is one of those unexpected delights that comes along every once in a while, but not often enough.”
 New Republic

Reversing Field

 
Reversing Field

Edited by
andre douglas pond cummings and Anne Marie Lofaso
Foreword by Dr. John Carlos
December 2010
536pp
HC/J  978-1-933202-55-6
$44.95
eBook  978-1-935978-05-3
$43.99
eBook  (120 Days)
$20.00

 

Overview

Reversing Field invites students, professionals, and enthusiasts of sport – whether law, management and marketing, or the game itself – to explore the legal issues and regulations surrounding collegiate and professional athletics in the United States. This theoretical and methodological interrogation of sports law openly addresses race, labor, gender, and the commercialization of sports, while offering solutions to the disruptions that threaten its very foundation during an era of increased media scrutiny and consumerism. In over thirty chapters, academics, practitioners, and critics vigorously confront and debate matters such as the Arms Race, gender bias, racism, the Rooney Rule, and steroid use, offering new thought and resolution to the vexing legal issues that confront sports in the 21st century.

Table of Contents

 

  • Foreword, John Carlos
  • Preface
  • Acknowledgments
  • Introduction, Stacey B. Evans
  • The Interconnectivity of Sports to Commercialization, Labor, and Race, John W. Fisher II
  • Part I: Commercialization: The Recruiting and Selling of the Modern Athlete

    • Overview, andré douglas pond cummings
    • More Lightning and Less Thunder: The Challenge for NCAA Athletics, Bernard Franklin
    • The Value and Perils of Intercollegiate Athletics: A Presidential Perspective, David C. Hardesty, Jr.
    • Exploring the Commercialized Arms Race Metaphor, Alfred Dennis Mathewson
    • Describing Racism as Asymmetrical Market Imperfections, or How to Determine Whether the NBA Dress Code is Racist, Andre L. Smith
    • Athletes as Television Celebrities: Why We Watch; How They Benefit; Must They Be Responsible?, Sherri Burr
  • Part II: Labor: How the Athlete Changes the Economic Playing Field

    • Overview, Anne Marie Lofaso
    • A. Balls or Strikes: Are Economic Weapons Finding the Zone?

      • Introduction, Jeffrey M. Hirsch
      • The 1994–’95 Baseball Strike and National Labor Relations Board: To the Precipice and Back Again, William B. Gould IV
      • 1994 Baseball Players’ Strike: A Case Study in Labor’s Use of its Most Effective Economic Weapon, Dennis P. Walsh
      • The State of Sports Law and Policy: Views from a Labor Law Professor, William B. Gould IV
    • B. False/Positives: Debating the Merits of Drug Testing

      • Introduction, Anne Marie Lofaso
      • The Temptation of Performance-Enhancing Drugs andré douglas pond cummings
      • Performance-Enhancing Drugs and How They Affect Today’s Athlete: Views from a Medical, Doctor Julian Bailes
      • From Barry Bonds to USADA: Protecting the Interests of “Drug-Free” Athletes, Timothy Davis
      • Challenging the Premise of Steroid Testing in Sports, Wm. David Cornwell, Sr.
  • Part III: Finding Equal Footing: Gender Issues in Sports

    • Overview: Progress Riddled with Disappointment, Anne Marie Lofaso
    • The Invisible Pregnant Athlete and the Promise of Title IX, Deborah L. Brake
    • Title IX Backlash and Intercollegiate Athletics, Barbara Osborne
    • Reflections of a Former Athlete as a Young Woman: Growing Up Under Title IX, Anne Marie Lofaso
    • Girls Can Play, Too: Has the Lack of Female Leadership in NCAA Athletics Become an Afterthought?, Bethany Swaton
  • Part IV: Race Issues in Sports

    • Overview: A Troubling History but a Bright Future, andré douglas pond cummings
    • Race in Sports: The Continuing Dilemma, Leonard J. Elmore
    • A. Racing From the Past: Exposing Racism in Today’s Collegiate Athletics

      • Introduction, andré douglas pond cummings
      • The Legacy of Brown: Commodification of the African American Student-Athlete?, Dana D. Brooks and Ronald Althouse
      • Using Social Psychology to Evaluate Race and Law in Sports, Michael A. McCann
      • From the Inside Looking Out: Racism in Men’s Collegiate Coaching, Marlon LeBlanc
      • Progress Realized? The Continuing American Indian Mascot Quandary, andré douglas pond cummings
    • B. Professional Equality: The Rooney Rule

      • Introduction, Todd J. Clark
      • Minorities Are Separate and Unequal: A Look at the Minority Hiring Practices in Collegiate and Professional Athletics, Floyd Keith
      • The Changing Landscape of African Americans in Sports, Kenneth L. Shropshire
      • The Critical Role of the Fritz Pollard Alliance, Cyrus Mehri
      • The Fritz Pollard Alliance, the Rooney Rule, and the Quest to “Level the Playing Field” in the National Football League, N. Jeremi Duru
      • Pushing Weight, andré douglas pond cummings

Author Info

andré douglas pond cummings is Professor of Law, West Virginia University College of Law. cummings holds a JD from Howard University School of Law. Anne Marie Lofaso is Associate Professor of Law, West Virginia University College of Law. She holds a JD from University of Pennsylvania Law School, an AB from Harvard University, and a DPhil from the University of Oxford.

With a foreword by Dr. John Carlos

Contributors: Ronald Althouse, Dr. Julian Bailes, Deborah Brake, Dana D. Brooks, Sherri Burr, John Carlos, Todd J. Clark, David Cornwell, andre douglas pond cummings, Timothy Davis, N. Jeremi Duru, Leonard J. Elmore, Stacey B. Evans, John Fisher, Bernard Franklin, William B. Gould IV, David C. Hardesty Jr., Jeffrey Hirsch, Floyd Keith, Marlon LeBlanc, Anne Marie Lofaso, Alfred Mathewson, Michael McCann, Cyrus Mehri, Barbara Osborne, Andre L. Smith, Bethany Swaton, Kenneth Shropshire, Dennis Walsh.

Reviews

“[This book] is a welcomed reservoir of information for reference by scholars, students, practitioners, jurists, and others in the field of sports law.”
James McCurdy, Gonzaga University School of Law

“Outstanding . . . . [will] contribute to the debate considerably.”
Nancy Hogshead-Makar, Florida Coastal School of Law

Vidcast

Links

Watch the 2007 Symposium that inspired this book.
Watch a Vidcast about this book.
Watch an Interview with andre douglas pond cummings about this book.
Watch an Interview with Anne Marie Lofaso about this book.

Uncommon Vernacular

 
Uncommon Vernacular


John C. Allen, Jr.
September 2011
384pp
HB  978-1-933202-87-7
$49.99

  
Within the picturesque borders of Jefferson County, West Virginia remain the vestiges of a history filled with Civil War battles and political rebellion. Yet also woven into the historical landscapeof this small county nestled within the Shenandoah Valley is an unusual collection of historic homes. 

In this fascinating architectural exploration, John C. Allen, Jr. details his expansive seven-year survey of Jefferson County’s historic residences.  By focusing on dwellings built from the mid-eighteenth century to the arrival of the railroad and canal in 1835, Allen unfolds the unique story of this area’s early building traditions and architectural innovations. The 250 buildings included in this work—from the plantation homes of the Washington family to the log houses of yeomen farmers—reveal the unique development of this region, as Allen categorizes structures and establishes patterns of construction, plan, and style.

Allen’s refreshing perspective illuminates the vibrant vernacular architecture of Jefferson County, connecting the housing of this area to the rich history of the Shenandoah Valley. Varying features of house siting, plan types, construction techniques, building materials, outbuildings, and exterior and interior detailing illustrate the blending of German, Scots-Irish, English, and African cultures into a distinct, regional style.

Adorned with over seven hundred stylish photographs by Walter Smalling and elegant drawings, floor plans, and maps by Andrew Lewis, Uncommon Vernacular explores and preserves this historic area’s rich architectural heritage.

John C. Allen, Jr. works as a preservation coordinator and architectural historian near Shepherdstown, West Virginia. He serves as the chairman of the Historic Landmarks Commission of Jefferson County, West Virginia.

Andrew Lewis, the illustrator, is a licensed architect living in Rectortown, Virginia. His architectural work has been recognized with many awards over his twenty-four-year career.

Walter Smalling, Jr., a Washington architectural photographer,began his professional career with the National Park Service and has worked as a freelance photographer since 1988.

Reviews

During my career at the West Virginia State Historic Preservation Office I have realized that while great architecture exists within the state’s boundaries, not many people knew about it.  Now they will.  And, although I have visited many buildings included in this book or read their National Register of Historic Places nominations, I could never turn to a reference volume that provided a comprehensive review through floor plans, drawn elevations and photographs. Now I can.  John Allen has captured the wonderful architecture of Jefferson County in this, the first publication that documents in great breadth the character and quality of architecture found in West Virginia’s eastern panhandle region of the Shenandoah Valley.  Focusing on the period 1735-1835, Allen confirms that architecture found in Jefferson County embraced the popular architectural styles of the era.  Each building’s description and analysis is accompanied by meticulous drawings and rich photographs. Walter Smalling, Jr., photographer, and Andrew Lewis, illustrator, have created a wonderful record of this architecture. Both serious student and casual reader will enjoy exploring these pages.  I look forward to adding this volume to my collection and sharing it with others.
Susan M. Pierce, Deputy State Historic Preservation Officer

Within this handsomely presented book, author John Allen shares his rapture for the eighteenth and early nineteenth century architectural gems he has uncovered in Jefferson County, West Virginia. Some known, others discovered; some sophisticated for their time and place, others a unique marriage of English precedents from coastal Virginia and German influences that flowed south through the Shenandoah Valley. Beautifully supported by Walter Smalling’s handsome photographs and Andrew Lewis’s excellent elevation drawings and abundant floor plans, Uncommon Vernacular opens for the casual reader and scholar alike a rich though largely underappreciated vein of America’s architectural heritage. In so doing, Allen has struck pure gold."
Dr. William J. Murtagh, First Keeper of the National Register of Historic Places

“Detailed text, extensive photographic documentation, and meticulously drawn plans and renderings collectively present early and extant conditions in a manner that provides a comprehensive historical record.”
Joan M. Brierton, Historic Preservation Specialist

“This book is beautifully and engagingly written.”
Keith D. Alexander, Historic Preservation Program Coordinator, Shepherd University

The Shenandoah

 
The Shenandoah

Julia Davis
Introduction by Christopher Camuto
October 2011
400pp
HB  978-1-933202-95-2
$24.99

  
In 1945, West Virginia author Julia Davis penned The Shenandoah as part of the Rivers of America Series, a landmark collection of books written by literary figures over a period of thirty years. In this classic reprint, now with an introduction by Christopher Camuto, Davis tells the history of the Shenandoah Valley and River, drawing on her own research and the experiences of ancestors who settled and lived in the area. Her book provides a poetic vision of both the river and the valley, preserving a fragment of America’s landscape.

Julia Davis Adams (1901-1993) was born in Clarksburg, West Virginia, attended Wellesley College, and graduated from Barnard College in 1922. She began her career as a reporter for The Associated Press in New York City, where she also headed the adoption service of the Children’s Aid Society in the early 1960’s. She authored two dozen books.

Reading Old English

 
Reading Old English

Edited by
Robert Hasenfratz and
Thomas J. Jambeck
January 2011
578pp
PB  978-1-933202-74-7
$44.95

  
Revised, Updated, and Expanded!

With the immersion method dominating contemporary language learning, the knowledge of traditional grammar is at a low ebb, creating real barriers to any student wanting to learn dead or historical languages. This revised edition of Reading Old English aims to equip readers (advanced undergraduates, graduate students, and autodidacts) with the necessary tools to read the oldest recorded forms of the English language by explaining key language features clearly and methodically, without dumbing down or simplifying any of the core grammatical concepts. It includes a number of helpful exercises, a variety of interesting and unusual Old English texts to translate, as well as appendices covering the basics of traditional grammar and sound changes in Old English, along with an introduction to poetic structure.

Robert Hasenfratz and Thomas J. Jambeck are both Professors of Medieval Studies at University of Connecticut.

Reviews

"This is a book that will feed enthusiasm. Throughout the ten chapters in which the basics of Old English grammar are covered, cleverly chosen phrases and sentences of Old English gradually build a secure reading knowledge, leading the readers to translate confidently and idiomatically. Particularly impressive is the authors' willingness to confront readers with Latin."
Jane Roberts, Professor Emerita, King's College London and Senior Research Fellow, Institute of English Studies, University of London

"Other introductory texts seem reluctant to abandon the 'serious' philological and historical background to Old English, a reluctance that can have serious consequences for the subject's appeal to today's students. By focusing on the main goal of learning to translate Old English texts, students gain access to this fascinating body of literature much more quickly. Their confidence is bolstered, and as my experience has shown, many of them go on to learn more about the language and culture once they have mastered the basics. In short, this approach generates enthusiasm and a desire to learn, rather than stifling it."
David F. Johnson, Florida State University

Nickle and a Prayer

 
A Nickel and a Prayer

Jane Edna Hunter
Edited by Rhondda Robinson Thomas
Foreword by Joycelyn Moody
February 2011
224pp
PB  978-1-933202-64-8
$22.95
HC  978-1-933202-65-5
$68.95
eBook  978-1-935978-21-3
$21.99
eBook  (120 Days)
$10.00

Series: Regenerations

 

  
Virtually unknown outside of her adopted hometown of Cleveland, Ohio, Jane Edna Hunter was one of the most influential African American social activists of the early-to-mid-twentieth century. In her autobiography A Nickel and a Prayer, Hunter presents an enlightening two-part narrative that recollects her formative years in the post-Civil War South and her activist years in Cleveland. First published in 1940, Hunter’s autobiography recalls a childhood filled with the pleasures and pains of family life on the former plantation where her ancestors had toiled, adventures and achievements in schools for African American children, tests and trials during her brief marriage, and recognition and respect while completing nursing training and law school. When sharing the story of her life as an activist, Hunter describes the immense obstacles she overcame while developing an interracial coalition to support the Phillis Wheatley Association and nurturing its growth from a rented home that provided accommodations for twenty-two women to a nine-story building that featured one hundred and thirty-five rooms.

This new and annotated edition of A Nickel and a Prayer includes the final chapter, “Fireside Musings,” that Hunter added to the second, limited printing of her autobiography and an introduction that lauds her as a multifaceted social activist who not only engaged in racial uplift work, but impacted African American cultural production, increased higher education opportunities for women, and invigorated African American philanthropy. This important text restores Jane Edna Hunter to her rightful place among prominent African American race leaders of the twentieth century.

Jane Edna Hunter (1882-1971) founded the Phillis Wheatley Association (PWA), an organization that offered housing, job training, and recreational activities to thousands of black women and girls who sought better opportunities in the North during the Great Migration. She gained recognition through her work at the PWA, National Association of Colored Women, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Ohio State Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs, and the Republican Party. Rhondda Robinson Thomas is Assistant Professor in the Department of English at Clemson University in Clemson, South Carolina, where she teaches African American and Early American Literature.

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