Charles House Books, Clay County history, Appalachia

Books of Interest to Clay Countians by Charles House

NEW! HEROES & SKALLYWAGS,The People Who Created Clay County Kentucky is a detailed history of Clay County from the time of its first settlers in 1783 up until the death of its most prominent and famous citizen, Brigadier General Theopolis T. Garrard in 1902. Garrard, like other of the elite movers and shakers in the county, was sometimes hero, sometimes skallywag, a situation that helps explain how the county wound up in the national headlines more than any other in Kentucky and continues to till this day. This is the first of a projected two volumes, the second of which will cover the modern period. -- 331 pages, with index -- $25 plus shipping and handling.

BLAME IT ON SALT, The First 150 Years of a Troublesome County and Some of It’s People is the story of a genealogical investigation that led to the discovery by the author that his family is intertwined with the pioneer settlers and movers and shakers of the county from the time of its founding by the salt barons in 1807 until the mid 1950s. In telling the story of his family the author found he was telling the story of Clay County in broad outline, and sometimes in too fine detail. -- Revised, with index -- 320 pages -- $20 plus shipping and handling.

THE OUTRAGEOUS LIFE OF HENRY FAULKNER This acclaimed biography, originally published by the University of Tennessee Press, is the story of Henry Faulkner from his traumatic childhood at Falling Timber Branch in Clay County to a flamboyant bohemian existence in New York, Los Angeles, Key West, Sicily and other far-flung outposts. The book was hailed by prominent writers from coast to coast including James Leo Herlihy and Harry Crews. “A splendid, wonderfully readable biography of a Kentucky painter whose life reads like a novel by Tennessee Williams--victim of prejudices and of his own genius.” -- Guy Davenport -- 312 pages, with index -- $20 plus shipping and handling.

SAILING ON DOWN THE PIKE This novel is the story of an eastern Kentuckian’s search for himself. Ray Horton, has-been professor, would-be artist, wanna-be musician, has been slacking of late. His mate, Annie, has been dealing with Ray’s problems in a way Ray finds not at all constructive. In their search for the elusive land of Fullfillment they find themselves distracted at every turn by people, places and events from the mountains of eastern Kentucky to the Florida Keys as they go . . . Sailing on Down the Pike. -- 301 pages -- $20 plus shipping and handling.

ONE WITH THE FOX is a look at everyday life through an Appalachian filter, which is another way of saying you can take the boy out of the mountains but you can’t take the mountains out of the boy. These essays have been praised by poet laureates James Still (Kentucky) and Wilma Dykeman (Tennessee) and prominent people in the Kentucky media such as Bob Schulman (Time Magazine, the Courier-Journal, Ky. Journalism Hall of Fame) and O. Leonard Press (Ex. Director KET, Ky. Journalism Hall of Fame). -- 156 pages -- $18 plus shipping and handling.