His First, Best Country

by Jim Wayne Miller

Novel. Available again from SPD, HIS FIRST, BEST COUNTRY is one of the most beautifully written novels I have ever read...-Gurney Norman, Appalachian Heritage. Whether describing the natural wonders of the Appalachian Mountains or a drunk friend passing out on a car's horn, Jim Wayne Miller's language is right on target: And they'd leave the fire to follow the hounds, their blood aroused, their noses tingling with all the possibilities of weed smoke and awakening earth. Hurrying after the hounds, suddenly believers again, faith in the woods restored by a wildness that entered them in the music of baying hounds. Joyce Dyer of Appalachian Journal writes, Jim Wayne Miller is wonderful when he goes to the core of what is most painful and most difficult about our relationship to home, about our relationship to the land that has sustained us, to the people that have loved or tried to love us, to our neighbors, and to ourselves.

216 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Jim Wayne Miller, a native of the mountain country of North Carolina, was graduated from Berea College in Kentucky in 1958 and received his Ph.D. in German and American Literature from Vanderbilt University in 1965. While at Vanderbilt, as an NDEA Fellow, he studied under Fugitive poet Donald Davidson and Hawthorne Scholar Randall Stewart. He was a Professor of German language and literature at Western Kentucky University for 33 years, where he was a member of the faculty of the Department of Modern Languages and Intercultural Studies. He served as a consultant to the Appalachian Studies programs in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Ohio and was a visiting Professor in Appalachian Studies at the Berea College Appalachian Center.

Jim Wayne Miller worked in the Poet-in-the-Schools program in Virginia and directed poetry workshops for several Universities. His honors include the Alice Lloyd Memorial Prize for Appalachian Poetry in 1967, the 1980 Thomas Wolfe Literary Award, the Zoe Kincaid Brockman Memorial Award, the Appalachian Writers Association Book of the Year Award and the Appalachian Consortium Laurel Leaves Award. His books include Copperhead Cane (1964), Dialogue With A Dead Man (1974), The Mountains Have Come Closer (1980), Vein Of Words (1984), Nostalgia for 70 (1986), Brier: His Book (1988), and Newfound (1989).

Reviews

[Jeffd134 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a must read for those interested in the question of returning home. My only criticism is that it’s lost between short story (Its origin) and novel in its structure. As a result it doesn't feel as deep as the storytelling could be. But there are so many important themes represented that it’s well worth a read.

[Rocky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great story of a prodigal returning home. Deeply rooted in place and culture.