The Southern Highlander & His Homeland

Rating:
Summary: Condescending missionary writing
Review: I read this book, which was written in the first half of the 20th century, in an attempt to find out more about Appalachian history and society. It does contain overviews of topography and early settlement that are somewhat useful. But Campbell, although he clearly tries not to be condescending, doesn't succeed. He's a missionary, and his purpose is to bring "modern civilization" to an underprivileged region. In discussing how he wants to do this, he never really comes to grips with the unique cultural heritage of the people he's talking about and the ways in which modernization -- his version of which is a sort of clean-cut, upright, Protestant Capitalist dystopia -- would endanger that. I can't really see any reason why a modern scholar would want to read this book.