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  <title><![CDATA[At Home in the Heart of Appalachia]]></title>
  <isbn><![CDATA[0385721390]]></isbn>
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  <description><![CDATA[John O’Brien was raised in Philadelphia  by an Appalachian father who fled the mountains to escape crippling poverty and family tragedy. Years later, with a wife and two kids of his own, the son moved back into those mountains in an attempt to understand both himself and the father from whom he’d become estranged. <br/><br/>At once a poignant memoir and a tribute to America's most misunderstood region,<strong><em> </em>At Home in the Heart of Appalachia </strong>describes a lush land of voluptuous summers, woodsmoke winters, and breathtaking autumns and springs.  John O'Brien sees through the myths about Appalachia to its people and the mountain culture that has sustained them. And he takes to task naïve missionaries and rapacious industrialists who are the real source of much of the region's woe as well as its lingering hillbilly stereotypes. Finally, and profoundly, he comes to terms with the atavistic demons that haunt the relations between Appalachian fathers and sons.]]></description>
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        <name><![CDATA[John O'Brien]]></name>
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    <![CDATA[At Home in the Heart of Appalachia]]>
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    <![CDATA[John O’Brien was raised in Philadelphia  by an Appalachian father who fled the mountains to escape crippling poverty and family tragedy. Years later, with a wife and two kids of his own, the son moved back into those mountains in an attempt to understand both himself and the father from whom he’d become estranged. <br/><br/>At once a poignant memoir and a tribute to America's most misunderstood region,<strong><em> </em>At Home in the Heart of Appalachia </strong>describes a lush land of voluptuous summers, woodsmoke winters, and breathtaking autumns and springs.  John O'Brien sees through the myths about Appalachia to its people and the mountain culture that has sustained them. And he takes to task naïve missionaries and rapacious industrialists who are the real source of much of the region's woe as well as its lingering hillbilly stereotypes. Finally, and profoundly, he comes to terms with the atavistic demons that haunt the relations between Appalachian fathers and sons.]]>
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  <read_at>Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2003</read_at>
  <date_added>Wed Mar 04 15:53:33 -0800 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Wed Mar 04 15:53:56 -0800 2009</date_updated>
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    <body><![CDATA[Loved it. Makes me want to do what the author did.]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/48255811]]></url>
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    <![CDATA[At Home in the Heart of Appalachia]]>
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  <average_rating>4.00</average_rating>
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    <![CDATA[John O'Brien's scrupulous, exactingly honest memoir opens in 1995 on the day of his father's funeral in Philadelphia, which he will not attend because &quot;eighteen years of silence stand between us [and] my presence would only add to family stress.&quot; Instead, he chooses to visit his father's birthplace in Piedmont, West Virginia, and consider the roots of their estrangement in the region that indelibly shaped them both. In a subtle, ruminative text, the author interweaves his memories with a history of Appalachia that debunks many myths. (The Hatfield-McCoy &quot;feud,&quot; for example, had more to do with dislocation caused by the coal and timber industries than any native blood lust.) Much of the book limns O'Brien's first few years in Franklin, a small town two hours south of Piedmont where he and his family settled in 1984. A bitter conflict involving the Woodlands Institute, an educational establishment that locals feared was trying to &quot;take over&quot; their school system, becomes a paradigm for O'Brien of the way affluent outsiders have always stereotyped Appalachia as a primitive backwater peopled by hillbillies, while the residents resisted attempts by strangers to &quot;improve&quot; their home ground with a stubborn fatalism about the possibility of (or need for) change. The author's own conflicts with his parents--who were skeptical when he went to college and horrified when he admitted to seeing a psychiatrist--reveal a provincialism and narrow-mindedness he does not deny are common in the region. At the same time, he affirms the joy of living close to nature and honors the &quot;plainspoken, empathetic, and genuine&quot; native character. Because his complex work doesn't trade in stock nostrums or easy sentimentality, the portrait that emerges of a people and a place rings deeply true. <em>--Wendy Smith</em> ]]>
  </description>
  <published>2001</published>
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    <rating>4</rating>
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  <recommended_for><![CDATA[folks with ANY links to Appalachia]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[Ann]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Sat Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007</read_at>
  <date_added>Sat Feb 02 08:09:22 -0800 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sat Feb 02 08:13:47 -0800 2008</date_updated>
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    <body><![CDATA[This is a moving personal account of one man's &quot;return&quot; to the Appalachia (whatever that word means ... and he makes clear that 'Appalachia' means a thousand different things and nothing at the same time, especially if you live there - wherever that might be) from which his father and fore...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/14356437">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/14356437]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/14356437]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>18614739</id>
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    <name><![CDATA[Jess]]></name>
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    <![CDATA[At Home in the Heart of Appalachia]]>
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  <average_rating>3.92</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>37</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[John O’Brien was raised in Philadelphia  by an Appalachian father who fled the mountains to escape crippling poverty and family tragedy. Years later, with a wife and two kids of his own, the son moved back into those mountains in an attempt to understand both himself and the father from whom he’d become estranged. <br/><br/>At once a poignant memoir and a tribute to America's most misunderstood region,<strong><em> </em>At Home in the Heart of Appalachia </strong>describes a lush land of voluptuous summers, woodsmoke winters, and breathtaking autumns and springs.  John O'Brien sees through the myths about Appalachia to its people and the mountain culture that has sustained them. And he takes to task naïve missionaries and rapacious industrialists who are the real source of much of the region's woe as well as its lingering hillbilly stereotypes. Finally, and profoundly, he comes to terms with the atavistic demons that haunt the relations between Appalachian fathers and sons.]]>
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  <published>2001</published>
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    <rating>5</rating>
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  <read_at>Sat Apr 12 00:00:00 -0700 2008</read_at>
  <date_added>Tue Mar 25 14:00:01 -0700 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sat Apr 12 08:53:26 -0700 2008</date_updated>
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    <body><![CDATA[What a terrific book! I learned so much about West Virginia and what life is like in that region of the country. O'Brien also discusses the history of Appalachia and how the people of West Virginia have been exploited by politicians and the very wealthy. <br/><br/>Throughout the book, the author a...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/18614739">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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      <review>
  <id>18809858</id>
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    <id>1030110</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Gudrun]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[The United States]]></location>
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    <![CDATA[At Home in the Heart of Appalachia]]>
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  <average_rating>3.92</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>37</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[John O’Brien was raised in Philadelphia  by an Appalachian father who fled the mountains to escape crippling poverty and family tragedy. Years later, with a wife and two kids of his own, the son moved back into those mountains in an attempt to understand both himself and the father from whom he’d become estranged. <br/><br/>At once a poignant memoir and a tribute to America's most misunderstood region,<strong><em> </em>At Home in the Heart of Appalachia </strong>describes a lush land of voluptuous summers, woodsmoke winters, and breathtaking autumns and springs.  John O'Brien sees through the myths about Appalachia to its people and the mountain culture that has sustained them. And he takes to task naïve missionaries and rapacious industrialists who are the real source of much of the region's woe as well as its lingering hillbilly stereotypes. Finally, and profoundly, he comes to terms with the atavistic demons that haunt the relations between Appalachian fathers and sons.]]>
  </description>
  <published>2001</published>
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    <rating>4</rating>
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  <read_at>Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2003</read_at>
  <date_added>Thu Mar 27 19:21:11 -0700 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Thu Mar 27 19:22:23 -0700 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[Got this book as a gift when we were thinking of moving to the area and have lent it out to many people since. ]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/18809858]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/18809858]]></link>
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      <review>
  <id>35016126</id>
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    <id>981655</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Rebecca]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[The United States]]></location>
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    <![CDATA[At Home in the Heart of Appalachia]]>
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  <average_rating>3.92</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>37</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[John O’Brien was raised in Philadelphia  by an Appalachian father who fled the mountains to escape crippling poverty and family tragedy. Years later, with a wife and two kids of his own, the son moved back into those mountains in an attempt to understand both himself and the father from whom he’d become estranged. <br/><br/>At once a poignant memoir and a tribute to America's most misunderstood region,<strong><em> </em>At Home in the Heart of Appalachia </strong>describes a lush land of voluptuous summers, woodsmoke winters, and breathtaking autumns and springs.  John O'Brien sees through the myths about Appalachia to its people and the mountain culture that has sustained them. And he takes to task naïve missionaries and rapacious industrialists who are the real source of much of the region's woe as well as its lingering hillbilly stereotypes. Finally, and profoundly, he comes to terms with the atavistic demons that haunt the relations between Appalachian fathers and sons.]]>
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  <published>2001</published>
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    <rating>4</rating>
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  <read_at>Thu Oct 23 00:00:00 -0700 2008</read_at>
  <date_added>Fri Oct 10 17:54:51 -0700 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Thu Oct 23 07:29:18 -0700 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[O'Brien rambles a bit but a good book for those of us who love Appalachia.]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/35016126]]></url>
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      <review>
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    <name><![CDATA[Kevin]]></name>
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  <average_rating>3.92</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>37</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[John O’Brien was raised in Philadelphia  by an Appalachian father who fled the mountains to escape crippling poverty and family tragedy. Years later, with a wife and two kids of his own, the son moved back into those mountains in an attempt to understand both himself and the father from whom he’d become estranged. <br/><br/>At once a poignant memoir and a tribute to America's most misunderstood region,<strong><em> </em>At Home in the Heart of Appalachia </strong>describes a lush land of voluptuous summers, woodsmoke winters, and breathtaking autumns and springs.  John O'Brien sees through the myths about Appalachia to its people and the mountain culture that has sustained them. And he takes to task naïve missionaries and rapacious industrialists who are the real source of much of the region's woe as well as its lingering hillbilly stereotypes. Finally, and profoundly, he comes to terms with the atavistic demons that haunt the relations between Appalachian fathers and sons.]]>
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  <published>2001</published>
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    <rating>5</rating>
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  <read_at>Sat Dec 13 09:26:21 -0800 2008</read_at>
  <date_added>Sat Aug 02 07:00:20 -0700 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sat Dec 13 09:26:21 -0800 2008</date_updated>
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    <body><![CDATA[An essential read for anyone interested in Appalachian culture.]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/29045858]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/29045858]]></link>
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  <read_at>Sun Apr 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007</read_at>
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    <body><![CDATA[not a great book.  how bad do the coal companies suck in WV?]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1538874]]></url>
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    <![CDATA[At Home in the Heart of Appalachia]]>
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    <![CDATA[John O'Brien's scrupulous, exactingly honest memoir opens in 1995 on the day of his father's funeral in Philadelphia, which he will not attend because &quot;eighteen years of silence stand between us [and] my presence would only add to family stress.&quot; Instead, he chooses to visit his father's birthplace in Piedmont, West Virginia, and consider the roots of their estrangement in the region that indelibly shaped them both. In a subtle, ruminative text, the author interweaves his memories with a history of Appalachia that debunks many myths. (The Hatfield-McCoy &quot;feud,&quot; for example, had more to do with dislocation caused by the coal and timber industries than any native blood lust.) Much of the book limns O'Brien's first few years in Franklin, a small town two hours south of Piedmont where he and his family settled in 1984. A bitter conflict involving the Woodlands Institute, an educational establishment that locals feared was trying to &quot;take over&quot; their school system, becomes a paradigm for O'Brien of the way affluent outsiders have always stereotyped Appalachia as a primitive backwater peopled by hillbillies, while the residents resisted attempts by strangers to &quot;improve&quot; their home ground with a stubborn fatalism about the possibility of (or need for) change. The author's own conflicts with his parents--who were skeptical when he went to college and horrified when he admitted to seeing a psychiatrist--reveal a provincialism and narrow-mindedness he does not deny are common in the region. At the same time, he affirms the joy of living close to nature and honors the &quot;plainspoken, empathetic, and genuine&quot; native character. Because his complex work doesn't trade in stock nostrums or easy sentimentality, the portrait that emerges of a people and a place rings deeply true. <em>--Wendy Smith</em> ]]>
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    <body><![CDATA[my favorite memoir book of all time]]></body>
    
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    <![CDATA[John O’Brien was raised in Philadelphia  by an Appalachian father who fled the mountains to escape crippling poverty and family tragedy. Years later, with a wife and two kids of his own, the son moved back into those mountains in an attempt to understand both himself and the father from whom he’d become estranged. <br/><br/>At once a poignant memoir and a tribute to America's most misunderstood region,<strong><em> </em>At Home in the Heart of Appalachia </strong>describes a lush land of voluptuous summers, woodsmoke winters, and breathtaking autumns and springs.  John O'Brien sees through the myths about Appalachia to its people and the mountain culture that has sustained them. And he takes to task naïve missionaries and rapacious industrialists who are the real source of much of the region's woe as well as its lingering hillbilly stereotypes. Finally, and profoundly, he comes to terms with the atavistic demons that haunt the relations between Appalachian fathers and sons.]]>
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