{"product_id":"proving-ground-9781421425399","title":"Proving Ground","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDisrupting the intervenor narrative in Appalachian studies.   The Appalachian Mountains attracted an endless stream of visitors in the twentieth century, each bearing visions of what they would encounter. Well before large numbers of tourists took to the mountains in the latter half of the century, however, networks of missionaries, sociologists, folklorists, doctors, artists, and conservationists made Appalachia their primary site for fieldwork. In Proving Ground, Edward Slavishak studies several of these interlopers to show that the travelers' tales were the foundation of powerful forms of insider knowledge. Following four individuals and one cohort as they climbed professional ladders via the Appalachian Mountains, Slavishak argues that these visitors represented occupational and recreational groups that used Appalachia to gain precious expertise. Time spent in the mountains, in the guise of work (or play that mimicked work), distinguished travelers as master problem-solvers and tra\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eProving Ground\u003c\/i\u003e provides fertile terrain for thinking about the politics of expertise and makes important contributions to intellectual history and Appalachian studies. Slavishak has produced an eloquently written and thought-provoking book.\u003cbr\u003e—Sarah Mittlefehldt, Northern Michigan University, \u003ci\u003eEnvironmental History\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEloquently written and prodigiously researched . . . \u003ci\u003eProving Ground\u003c\/i\u003e is an intensely interesting story of intersecting perspectives—particularly of place, environment, and culture—that gives \"close attention to the messy material of human encounters with landscapes\" (p. 13). This provocative book will lead regionalists to examine what made the Appalachian proving ground similar, and different, from other such terrain.\u003cbr\u003e—Chad Berry, Berea College, \u003ci\u003eJournal of American History\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003eExhaustively researched and skillfully composed . . . The most impressive features of \u003ci\u003eProving Ground\u003c\/i\u003e are the depth of Slavishak's research into important but relatively unknown personalities and cultural trends, regional and national, and his familiarity with the history and vocabulary of each of several very different professional, aesthetic, academic, and recreational pursuits as practiced within the Appalachians.\u003cbr\u003e—Ricky Cox, Radford University, \u003ci\u003eNorth Carolina Historical Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSituated at the crossroads of environmental history, critical regionalism, and visual studies, this masterful book synthesizes these fields to assess the approaches of several Appalachian interlopers. Slavishak's case studies of preservationists, planners, hikers, anthropologists, and photographers convincingly demonstrate that specialists proved themselves to their peers by gaining and displaying on-the-ground expertise through formidable, marginalized landscapes . . . Foremost among Slavishak's many fine attributes is his ability to contextualize and analyze . . . a skill he exhibits throughout this diligently researched and elegantly written book, which proves his own expertise in the fertile interdisciplinary ground of Appalachian studies.\u003cbr\u003e—Andrew Crooke, East Stroudsburg University, \u003ci\u003eJournal of Southern History\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSlavishak throws light on how conceptions of place can be exported and disseminated. And by studying professionals rather than leisure travelers, Slavishak has revealed how and why a heterogeneous group of them accessed seemingly remote corners of Appalachia and sought to carry their experiences out again.\u003cbr\u003e—Laura J. Martin, Williams College, \u003ci\u003eAmerican Historical Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eList of Illustrations\u003cbr\u003eAcknowledgments\u003cbr\u003eIntroduction\u003cbr\u003e1. Expert Vision\u003cbr\u003e2. Terrestrial and Human\u003cbr\u003e3. The Stern Grip of Circumstance\u003cbr\u003e4. A Priceless Asset\u003cbr\u003e5. William Gedney and the Look of Coal Country\u003cbr\u003eConclusion\u003cbr\u003eNotes\u003cbr\u003eBibliography\u003cbr\u003eIndex\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Johns Hopkins University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49408125403479,"sku":"9781421425399","price":32.25,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781421425399.jpg?v=1730501677","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/proving-ground-9781421425399","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}