Far Appalachia: Following the New River North
by Noah Adams
List Price:
Our Price: $2.00
You Save: $21.95 (92%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Noah AdamsEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2001-04-10
ISBN: 0385320108
Number of pages: 256
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Book Reviews of Far Appalachia: Following the New River North
Book Review: I can't believe I loved this book
Summary: 5 Stars
But I did. It is not at all the typical stuff I usually read. It was such an entertaining and gentle read. Adams is such a wonderful story teller. I felt as if I took that journey right beside him. As far as I am concerned, I have floated down "The New" myself now. I borrowed the book I read from my library but I am purchasing two for my Mom and my sister.
Summary of Far Appalachia: Following the New River North
With his sharp eye and gentle wit, Noah Adams doesn't just tell stories, he lets them unfold--quietly, powerfully, and eloquently. Now the beloved host of NPR's All Things Considered and bestselling author of Piano Lessons takes us on a river journey through the heart of Appalachia--a journey shared by pioneers and preachers, white-water daredevils, bluegrass musicians, and an unforgettable cast of vivid historical characters.Far Appalachia Following the New River North
Noah Adams has Appalachia in his blood. A native of eastern Kentucky, he comes to the headwaters of the New River not just in search of adventure but to better understand his own unique heritage. Following the New River from its mile-high source on North Carolina's Snake Mountain to its West Virginia mouth, Adams travels by Jeep and by bicycle, by foot and, most thrillingly, by white-water raft to explore the history, natural beauty, and fascinating characters waiting around every bend and turn.
Distilling history from legend, Adams tells of men and women whose lives crossed the New River before him: Daniel Boone, fleeing his farming family in search of wilderness; Cherokee Indians driven west on their Trail of Tears; and the ill-fated men who traveled thousands of miles to work on the Hawk's Nest Tunnel, making a fortune for a company while their lungs filled with deadly silica dust. And along the way Adams follows the echoes of his own distant heritage, interweaving his river journey through Appalachia with yet another voyage, thousands of miles away.
With eloquence and compassion, Noah Adams paints a luminous portrait of a land and a people as richly vital and complex as America itself. At the same time, his quietly personal chronicle captures the sheer magic of the flowing waters: their sound, their eddies, their utter unpredictability. A vibrant and unforgettable read, Far Appalachia mesmerizes and haunts like the bluegrass music that still rings through the mountains and valleys in which it was born.
Noah Adams, the amiable host of NPR's All Things Considered, is no stranger to the world beyond the Beltway; a native of Kentucky, he's logged plenty of time in wild country, and the travels he recounts in his latest book take him through some of the most rugged in the eastern United States.
Adams travels along the New River, which rises in the mountains of North Carolina, flows generally north into Virginia and West Virginia, and eventually merges with the Ohio and Mississippi. Along the way--traveling by car, bicycle, and canoe--he explains the workings of rapids, his ancestral connection to Appalachia as well as its the history, and even the origins of the term hillbilly. As he wanders, Adams points out local oddities (such as a school bus that incongruously rests on a huge boulder in the middle of a stretch of the New River) and takes in bluegrass festivals, family picnics and the occasional family feud, and little towns and large vistas, by all appearances having a grand time along the way.
"This is just a book about a river. There was no quest involved, only a wish to understand more about this part of the country and my family's past." So writes Adams, with characteristic understatement. It may lack grand purpose, but his book is a pleasure for anyone who knows the country of which he writes, and anyone who enjoys a backroad adventure. --Gregory McNamee
State & Local Books
- Subjects > History > Americas > United States > General
- Sports > Water Sports > Canoeing > General
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Engineering
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Medicine
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in State & Local Books
This House of Sky: Landscapes of a Western Mindby Ivan Doig
Mariner Books; Published: 1980-02-19; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.99
Price in other shops:
The Foxfire Book: Hog Dressing, Log Cabin Building, Mountain Crafts and Foods, Planting by the Signs, Snake Lore, Hunting Tales, Faith Healing, Moonshiningby Inc. Foxfire Fund
Anchor; Published: 1972-02-17; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.49
Price in other shops:
PrairyErth (A Deep Map): An Epic History of the Tallgrass Prairie Countryby William Least Heat-Moon
Mariner Books; Published: 1999-02-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.80
Price in other shops:
Dead in Their Tracks: Crossing America's Desert Borderlandsby John Annerino
Basic Books; Published: 2003-09-28; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.98
Price in other shops:
Reflections in Bullough's Pond: Economy and Ecosystem in New England (Revisiting New England)by Diana Muir
UPNE; Published: 2000-04-01; Library Binding; Book
Best price: $9.21
Price in other shops:
Creeker: A Woman's Journey (Women in Southern Culture)by Linda Scott DeRosier
University Press of Kentucky; Published: 2002-06-21; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.44
Price in other shops:
Ship Ablaze: The Tragedy of the Steamboat General Slocumby Edward T. O'Donnell
Broadway; Published: 2003-06; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $8.49
Price in other shops:
Down These Mean Streetsby Piri Thomas
Turtleback Books Distributed by Demco Media; Published: 2002-02; Turtleback; Book
Price in other shops:
Little Britches: Father and I Were Ranchersby Ralph Moody
Amereon Limited; Published: 1986-06; Hardcover; Book
Price in other shops:
To Sleep with the Angels: The Story of a Fireby David Cowan, John Kuenster
Ivan R. Dee, Publisher; Published: 1996-02-25; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $12.45
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
Piano Lessons: Music, Love, and True Adventuresby Noah Adams
Delta; Published: 1997-03-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.25
Price in other shops:
The United States of Appalachia: How Southern Mountaineers Brought Independence, Culture, and Enlightenment to Americaby Jeff Biggers
Counterpoint; Published: 2007-03-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.10
Price in other shops:
Fishing the New River Valley: An Angler's Guideby M. W. Smith
University of Virginia Press; Published: 2002-03; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.36
Price in other shops:
The New River Guide, Second Editionby Bruce Ingram
Ecopress, An Imprint of Finney Company; Published: 2008-03-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.96
Price in other shops:
Night Comes to the Cumberlands: A Biography of a Depressed Areaby Harry M. Caudill
Jesse Stuart Foundation; Published: 2001-10-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.56
Price in other shops:
Woman Who Never Cooked: Stories (First Series: Short Fiction)by Mary L. Tabor
Mid-List Press; Published: 2006-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $16.00
The Dogs of Babel: A Novelby Carolyn Parkhurst
Back Bay Books; Published: 2004-06-07; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.39
Price in other shops:
Orpheus in the Parkby Rose Solari
The Bunny & The Crocodile Press; Published: 2005-03-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $24.99
Price in other shops:
Off Ramp: Adventures and Heartache in the American Elsewhereby Hank Stuever
Picador; Published: 2005-07-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.49
Price in other shops:
Mother of Sorrowsby Richard McCann
Vintage; Published: 2006-06-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.84
Price in other shops: