The Anguish of Displacement: The Politics of Literacy in the Letters of Mountain Families in Shenandoah National Park

"Powell's book about Appalachian rhetoric is a case study of how literacy can be used to overpower the less literate rather than empower them. The book constitutes a counter-narrative to Shenandoah National Park official history, using 300 letters in park archives written by families who were displaced upon the creation of the national park, authorized by Congress in 1926. Using this significant, newly catalogued corpus of letters, Powell reveals the many facets of the poor, disadvantaged writers, who took up letter-writing to address the powerful Park bureaucracy. Powell not only extends our knowledge of literacy in Appalachia, but moves out globally to extend our knowledge of literacy in general."-Catherine L. Hobbs, Professor of English Rhetoric, Composition, and Literacy, University of Oklahoma "A remarkable book that carefully traces the letter writing of individuals from Appalachian families who struggled to maintain their homes in the face of an eminent domain removal in order for the federal government to create the Shenandoah National Park. Anyone who has hiked the section of the 'People's Path,' or the Appalachian National Scenic Trail, that winds through Shenandoah National Park, will be moved to greater appreciation and clearer understanding of the human cost of creating this space."-Ellen Cushman, Michigan State University, and citizen of the Cherokee Nation