Cratis Williams

Following his retirement in 1976 from a distinguished career as a teacher and administrator at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina, Cratis Williams wrote these memoirs of his life odyssey from a log cabin in eastern Kentucky to the upper echelons of American education.

A collection of true stories gathered from the Southern Appalachian people, this book echoes the folkways and values of another era. Published in 1974, the stories collected in ... A Right Good People were originally published in the Charlotte Observer, the largest newspaper in the Carolinas in the 1970s. These stories were written with the intention of illustrating the heritage of the Appalachian people and letting them speak about their culture and traditions for themselves.

No region has undergone more dramatic changes in the last century than Western North Carolina. Published in 1973, Western North Carolina Since the Civil War takes a look at the mountain people and their uniquely structured economic, political, social, and cultural systems. The Van Noppens specifically explore the different qualities of the mountain people such as their institutions, traditions, customs, and arts and crafts. Beginning with a dark period of social and economic disintegration after the end of the Civil War, the study traces the mountain peoples' lives from isolation to economic booms all while maintaining their traditions and cultural heritage.