A friend of mine suggested “Wild Swans” (Simon & Schuster, Reprint Edition, 2003, 538 pages) and to say it did not disappoint would be an understatement. This family history is written by Jung Chang, who recounts the lives of her grandmother, mother and finally herself. 

Having grown up in proximity to a Cherokee community (Little Snowbird in Graham County), I’m familiar with and sensitive to the history and the psychology of Native peoples who have been marginalized and worse from their cultural roots and their homelands.

In “Stories I Lived to Tell: An Appalachian Memoir” (The University of North Carolina Press, 2024, 152 pages), 89-year-old storyteller and writer Gary Carden spends much of his time revisiting his youth and childhood.

Legendary Western North Carolina storyteller Gary Carden is at it again, this time, with a new memoir due out from UNC press later this year.