This is my favorite book on early life along the Cumberland Valley (Middle Tennessee and lower Central Kentucky), especially after getting past Chapter One, which is an imaginary narration of an "early adventure" which seemed unnecessary. That is a small complaint though. The book has some really interesting information on all aspects of settlement of the area and I highly recommend it! Many of the details described are applicable to pioneer life in other areas east of the Mississippi as well, I would think.

Kingsport's population peak during WWII has never returned again, despite a half century of growth by annexation. Professor Wolfe has done a very fine job of archival research and interviews to enlighten the reader. Though her survey is more critical, obviously, than a publication each decade of the 90's by the local Rotary Club, Wolfe ads the human element and anecdotal illustrations to complement the Rotary's advertising bent.

City builder J. Fred Johnson has become a legendary and almost apocrypha figure for this town in the foothills of Southern Appalachia. Middle class factory workers and country club executives dominated this city during the 20th century. But the 21 century has arrived as industrial downsizing is taking a toll.

Wolfe tells the true story as it really happened, 'warts and all.' Hopefully either Professor Wolfe or someone else will fill in more details and produce a future volume that fills in the gaps of the history of this city whose most prominent claim to fame is the hometown and idyllic setting of Lisa Alther's veiled trashy novel, "Kinflicks."

This book is one which should never have been written. Wolfe's writing is almost adequate, but the subject is a loser

A good introduction to/outline of the history of women in the South, crossing racial and class lines in the telling. This book proved to be concise and readable; I finished it in less than a week. As an under-30 Mississippian, my education in women's history is much of my own making, so the forty-eight pages of endnotes were comforting to me, suggesting that the book has been well-researched. I would recommend it to the literate general reader as a springboard into further reading (I plan to find a book with more in-depth coverage of African American women's history ASAP). The most fascinating surprise of it was the discussion of labor movements and YWCA work in the 1920s and 1930s.

This is a subject the author knows better than any other could possibly know. The book gives evidence of thorough research and personal involvement. As a former student of Dr. Wolfe, I was able to experience first-hand the history of Tennessee brought to life. Daughters of Canaan fortunately focuses on real southern women and their tribulations and triumphs. If you can't meet Dr. Wolfe in the classroom, this book is the next best thing to being there.

This is Arnow's companion volume to her SEEDTIME ON THE CUMBERLAND. While SEEDTIME focuses on physical aspects of pioneering, i.e., food, clothing, shelter, the struggle against Indians and governments, FLOWERING emphasizes social institutions and activities that required the early settlers to interact with other people as a society, i.e., communication, education, industry, and trade. Home life as a focal point is reiterated, and the transplanting of Old World culture into the Cumberland River region is stressed. Primary sources, as well as some unpublished materials, are cited. The treatment, however, seems somewhat romantic and not critical, almost like a novel. In essence, Arnow is telling the story or stories of these early pioneers. The material is structured topically.