Appalachian Passage

Hiscoe Helen B. (Signed)

ISBN 10: 0820313548 / ISBN 13: 9780820313542

Published by University of Georgia Press, Athens, 1991

Foreward by Barbara Ellen Smith. Previous owners name written inside on fgront free end paper. Seller Inventory # 000046

Synopsis:

Chronicles the experiences of the wife of a young company doctor in a West Virginia coal mining camp, as she assisted him in his work

Reviews: For Helen and Bonta Hiscoe, Coal Mountain, W. Va., in the heart of Appalachia, was the back of beyond. When Bonta completed service at the Great Lakes Naval Hospital in 1949, he signed on as a coal camp physician at Coal Mountain. The few roads were unpaved, the nearest hospital was 45 miles away and medical facilities were primitive. Patients were miners and their families, lumberjacks and old-timers who lived up the hollows. The author, his wife, professor emerita of natural science at Michigan State University, gives an engrossing account of their year at the camp, painting portraits of proud, independent, "tetchy" people during a stressful time: the miners, led by John L. Lewis, were on strike. Bonta, who had never practiced outside a hospital, delivered babies in rooms filled with family members. Despite some misunderstandings, the Hiscoes learned to appreciate and admire most of the people at Coal Mountain. This is a minor but valuable bit of Americana. Photos.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

In June 1949, the author's husband became the company doctor for a remote mining camp in Coal Mountain, West Virginia. This is Hiscoe's personal record of her experiences and observations of the year she lived in rural Appalachia. Unaccustomed to the rugged conditions and unfamiliar ways of the mountain people, the young couple strived to administer health care to this isolated and often impoverished area. The journal reveals the author's inner thoughts, as well as depicts common medical practices, particularly home childbirth. It also describes the mining camp and its operations, and relates the impact of the labor union on the social structure and welfare of the community. Recommended for Appalachian studies collections.
- Eloise R. Hitchcock, Tennessee Technological Univ. Lib., Cookeville
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Bibliographic Details

Title: Appalachian Passage
Publisher: University of Georgia Press, Athens
Publication Date: 1991
Binding: Hardcover
Condition: Very Good
Dust Jacket Condition: As New
Signed: Signed by Author(s)
Edition: First Edition