The Allegheny frontier, comprising the mountainous area of present-day West Virginia and bordering states, is studied here in a broad context of frontier history and national development. The region was significant in the great American westward movement, but Otis K. Rice seeks also to call attention to the impact of the frontier experience upon the later history of the Allegheny Highlands. He sees a relationship between its prolonged frontier experience and the problems of Appalachia in the twentieth century. Through an intensive study of the social, economic, and political developments in pioneer West Virginia, Rice shows that during the period 1730–1830 some of the most significant features of West Virginia life and thought were established. There also appeared evidences of arrested development, which contrasted sharply with the expansiveness, ebullience, and optimism commonly associated with the American frontier. In this period customs, manners, and folkways associated with the conquest of the wilderness to root and became characteristic of the mountainous region well into the twentieth century. During this pioneer period, problems also took root that continue to be associated with the region, such as poverty, poor infrastructure, lack of economic development, and problematic education. Since the West Virginia frontier played an important role in the westward thrust of migration through the Alleghenies, Rice also provides some account of the role of West Virginia in the French and Indian War, eighteenth-century land speculations, the Revolutionary War, and national events after the establishment of the federal government in 1789.

The Mountain State's irregular borders and rugged geography are home to a fascinating mix of cultures, landscapes and foods. West Virginia's culinary history is rooted among the native fauna and flora that early residents hunted and foraged, and the taste of pawpaws and ramps is familiar across the state. Immigrants brought international flavors to Appalachian cuisine, resulting in local traditions like moonshine and the iconic pepperoni roll. Historian, author and West Virginia native Shannon Colaianni Tinnell explores a history that is still being written by a new generation hungry for tradition and authenticity.

Another addition to the Southern Women series, Alabama Women celebrates women’s histories in the Yellowhammer State by highlighting the lives and contributions of women and enriching our understanding of the past and present. Exploring such subjects as politics, arts, and civic organizations, this collection of eighteen biographical essays provides a window into the social, cultural, and geographic milieux of women’s lives in Alabama. Featured individuals include Augusta Evans Wilson, Maria Fearing, Julia S. Tutwiler, Margaret Murray Washington, Pattie Ruffner Jacobs, Ida E. Brandon Mathis, Ruby Pickens Tartt, Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald, Sara Martin Mayfield, Bess Bolden Walcott, Virginia Foster Durr, Rosa Parks, Lurleen Burns Wallace, Margaret Charles Smith, and Harper Lee. Contributors: -Nancy Grisham Anderson on Harper Lee -Harriet E. Amos Doss on the enslaved women surgical patients of J. Marion Sims -Wayne Flynt and Marlene Hunt Rikard on Pattie Ruffner Jacobs -Caroline Gebhard on Bess Bolden Walcott -Staci Simon Glover on the immigrant women in metropolitan Birmingham -Sharony Green on the Townsend Family -Sheena Harris on Margaret Murray Washington -Christopher D. Haveman on the women of the Creek Removal Era -Kimberly D. Hill on Maria Fearing -Tina Naremore Jones on Ruby Pickens Tartt -Jenny M. Luke on Margaret Charles Smith -Rebecca Cawood McIntyre on Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald and Sara Martin Mayfield -Rebecca S. Montgomery on Ida E. Brandon Mathis -Paul M. Pruitt Jr. on Julia S. Tutwiler -Susan E. Reynolds on Augusta Evans Wilson -Patricia Sullivan on Virginia Foster Durr -Jeanne Theoharis on Rosa Parks -Susan Youngblood Ashmore on Lurleen Burns Wallace