Wide Branches, Deep Roots
How Appalachian Wisdom Can Help in the Fight for a Sustainable Future
$92.10
- Paperback
296 pages
- Release Date
15 December 2026
Summary
To be Appalachian is to define oneself in terms of a place. Where we’re from plays a tremendous role in who we are, through storytelling about our homeplaces and the people who have loved them. However, what goes largely unaddressed is how this love of place can contribute to sustainability within the region, which has notoriously faced ongoing environmental threats from extraction industries. The reality is that our relationship with the environment is thorny and intertwined with our identit…
Book Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781959000976 |
|---|---|
| ISBN-10: | 1959000977 |
| Author: | Jessica M. Jones, Amanda E. Hayes, Greg Bealer, Luc Biscan-White, David Blackmore, Aysha Bodenhamer, Ivy Brashear, Matthew Calloway, Nicole Drewitz-Crockett, Christina Fisanick |
| Publisher: | West Virginia University Press |
| Imprint: | West Virginia University Press |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Number of Pages: | 296 |
| Release Date: | 15 December 2026 |
| Weight: | 454g |
| Dimensions: | 152mm x 229mm |
Critics Review
“Wide Branches, Deep Roots is a joy to anyone who has known the truth all along—that sustainability and environmental stewardship in the Appalachian region is not just a passing fad, but an inherited practice since the region’s inception. Its impact will extend beyond the classroom to local historians, community organizers, and environmental activists who will find in it a mirror for their lived experiences accompanied with strong models of sustainable, place-based advocacy.” - Marti Wagnon, assistant professor of English in the School of Writing, Language, and Literature at Radford University
Jessica M. Jones
Jessica M. Jones serves as full-time faculty at Kent State University, where she teaches creative writing, Native American literature, and place-based composition. She comes from a long line of makers and musicians in Northern Appalachia and prefers to live life out of doors. She holds a master’s from the University of Montana with K-12 licensure and training in Montana Indian Education for All. Her poetry and essays have been published in numerous journals and anthologies, and her chapbook, Bitterroot, can be found at Finishing Line Press.
Amanda E. Hayes teaches English and composition at Kent State University-Tuscarawas. Raised on a multigenerational family farm in Appalachian Ohio, she now researches and writes about regional traditions of literacy, storytelling, and education. Her works include The Politics of Appalachian Rhetoric and The Madison Women: Gender, Higher Education, and Literacy in Nineteenth-Century Appalachia.
Contributors: Greg Bealer, Luc Biscan-White, David Blackmore, Aysha Bodenhamer, Ivy Brashear, Matthew Calloway, Nicole Drewitz-Crockett, Christina Fisanick, Deborah Fleming, Amanda V. Garner, Karie Gunter-Seymour, Richard Hague, Amanda E. Hayes, Lockie Hunter, Jessica M. Jones, Kristen LeFevers, Sarah Long, Meghan Moore-Hubbard, Barbara Marie Minney, Jessica Radicic, Elizabeth Emmerth Rexroad, Barbara Sabol, Larry Smith, Patrice Stank, Taylor Nasim Stone, Paul Thomas, Elizabeth Tussey, and Betsy Weems.
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