This book paints a disturbingly distorted portrait of a people who have been constantly misrepresented by our society. I was born in Eastern Kentucky, in the Appalachian Mountains, and am personally offended by this book. Adams and Smith deliberately sought out to find the most backward people they could, and pass them off to the rest of the nation as mainstream Appalachia. Portraits slaps the face of everyone from the Appalachian area, and keeps the extremely unfair stereotype of Appalachia alive. It is a very culturally biased piece of work, and both Adams and Smith should have known better.

Shelby Lee Adam's doesn't, as some accuse him of, train his camera on the families of Eastern Kentucky to ridcule or expose them in their poverty or backwardness. Instead, because of his devotion to capturing in an authentic way authentic people, he simply and lovingly captures their reality. Is the poverty easy to look at? No. Is the "backwardness" easy to understand? Not very. But Adam's neither condemns nor condones his subjects; he simply and carefully records. We should all be grateful for that.

I grew up in central KY, just 1 1/2 hours away from Appalachian KY. While the stories and families depicted in these photos are quite true to their nature, it may offer a skewed view of Eastern Kentucky life. Not everyone over there lives in the condition that my dad and I jokingly call "Squalor in the 'holler." However, it happens to be the part that is fascinating. I think the purpose of this book was not to represent Eastern KY, but to represent the intense poverty of the region and to share a glimpse of a lifestyle that most of us cannot comprehend. This book shows what people want to see of Appalachian KY. It's what they are looking for, and it is delivered. That is a place that time has left behind. It's one of the poorest regions in the U.S. due to several certain factors and it is fascinating to see how other folks live. It is a different world over there. If you enjoy thinking about human geography and sociology, this book may welllead to hours of thought.

This was obviously written by someone who has read Lee Smith's work closely and cares deeply about it. But unlike so many of the other excellent books in the Twayne series, this one seemed to have an agenda all its own. While the ideas discussed were very interesting (a sort of new age, feminist perspective) I didn't feel it was quite right for something like Twayne, which has always been more of an overarching perspective of an individual writer's work.

I felt that I was reading someone's thesis -- a well written one, but something that was about the micro, not macro themes and ideas behind Smith's work.

As a chiropractic patient, I can attest to the fact that chiropractic works wonders. I was embarrassed reading this nonsense. That is, I was embarrassed for the author--shame on him for wasting my time.

As a medical doctor, I can tell you this book is filled with erroneous information. I refer to chiropractors on a daily basis. This book is grossly outdated.

Too many mistakes to list here. Don't waste your money on this badly researched dribble.

This book is awful. I can not believe that it was published.As an American in the 21st century, I am embarassed that such poorlywritten, inaccurate, and false information is accepted by publishers. The author uses fear tactics and lies as a means to influence her readers. One statement in the book that is completely false is the following statement: "Unfortunately, because of not so strict laws controlling marijuana, it is easy to get." This is a false statement. There are currently thousands of men and women serving 5-25 years behind bars with rapists, murderers, and child molestors for marijuana related offenses. Not to mention tens of thousands of Americans that are arrested or fined for marijuana offenses. It is because of writers such as this one that the majority of our population is kept in the dark from the truth about marijuana.

This is a poorly written, badly edited diatribe against marijuana. It does its publishers no credit. Sample statements using techniques of doublespeak and fear tactics made by the author include: "Myth: Marijuana is not addictive. Fact: Marijuana is not considered physically addictive, but it might as well be." "Babies born to marijuana smokers are usually born smaller and may have distorted features." "Many people think it makes them see art or hear music better. In fact, it only changes the appearance." (Hunh?)"Many people think that marijuana will help them to relax. It does change the body and blood makeup so that it seems that the body is relaxing. In fact, it causes low blood pressure, and that causes more stress to the body.Because the senses are changed, the mind thinks it is relaxed. But it is not." (Again, hunh? but maybe this is just a semantic problem with the word "relax".)As an example of poor editing, this! paragrah in the middle of a section on contemporary use of marijuana: "Unfortunately, because of not-so-strict laws controlling marijuana, it is easy to get. The average age when most people start using pot is 13 in the United States. Marijuana is the second-largest cash crop. So whether you try it is up to you." I agree with an earlier reviewer that this work is precisely the kind of laughable misinformation and transparent propagandizing that leads young and intelligent information-seekers to distrust adults who have wise information to impart. Librarians: Pass on this one.

this book was very good because it will tell you what will happen to you if you take drugs and the way that it will affect your body.

The author should have learned more about this subject before she passed judgment on magic mushrooms. There is good reason to believe that mankind has used this kind of mushroom since we first domesticated cattle. Magic mushrooms may be the basis for all religion as we know it. Very shallow and misinformed.

Any other book on this subject would be more informative. "Clue" if you see it listed in the (drug abuse prevention library), it's probably biased and not full of useful information.

The author is obviously misinformed - no real 'shroomer would just take the fungi and leave a perfectly good pile of dung lying there.

Trite and moralistic introduction to plants that have been used by man for thousands of years.

For a more accurate coverage of the subject see: Psilocybin Mushrooms of the World by Paul Stamets and Dr. Andrew Weil