Appalachia. According to popular mythology, it's a mountainous hold-over from colonial days, an all-white outlaw society mired in poverty and cliché jokes about family feuds. Throw in some stories about moonshine, add a few images of grimy coal miners and you're done. People who know better and try to preserve Appalachian history and culture are no match for developers greedy for more land and franchise locations. The process is irreversible, but the real story-hilariously funny, sometimes poignant, always surprising-can be told, savored and remembered. Philip Hirsh was born in the era of the Great Depression, the son of wealthy parents who divided their time between suburban New York City and their horse farm in Appalachia. Servants were given the child-rearing responsibilities freeing his parents to ride, play golf and drink lots (and lots) of mint juleps. He ate with the servants and farmers, went to their homes, and became an observant fly-on-the-wall. It was a life of stunning contrast that worked perfectly as long as nothing positive about servants or "locals" was ever spoken in front of his parents. Hirsh was educated at Phillips Academy Andover, Yale University and Jefferson Medical College. Now in retirement he went back to the Hollows looking for the families and descendants of those folks who gave him the stories. He wanted to be certain his recollections were accurate, and that people wouldn't mind if he published their stories. Many of these true tales were presented as essays on NPR radio. Used Book in Good Condition