Self-published book
 Appalachia:  Spirit Triumphant

by B. L. Dotson-Lewis

This is an oral history project.  I wanted to preserve the unique history of the mountain people of Appalachia, specifically in the southern Appalachian coalfields of West Virginia.  After applying for several grants from various governmental agencies and state agencies, I realized a grant was not going to happen for me to maintain my website or publish a book.   At times it seems most of those funds are made available to people living outside the region who come in and discover what we have been living for so many years in the remote, isolated mountains of West Virginia.

I didn't want to let the people down who have so generously contributed  to this project by giving me their stories, so I funded it out of my pocket.  A couple of traditional publishers would have taken the project on with me still doing all the marketing, funding, etc. and the book would have been whittled down to a next to nothing publication, so, I decided to take the project on myself, self-publishing a book for the first time.  This is not an easy job.  This is not a job for the person who has to have 8 hours sleep per night if they are working full time as I do.  But the results are rewarding.  You do all the work but you have a wonderful, beautiful "work of art."  In my case, I have captured and recorded history which we are rapidly losing, Depression Era individuals, WWII Veterans, even our coal miners are not that many now days. 

My book is in large print with lots of white.  The photos are old-time black and white photos depicting the era and area.  All the stories are left in their original dialect.

Dr. Donald Rasmussen, the famous Black Lung Doctor of Beckley, West Virginia, whose oral history is in my book, summed it up like this,  "I love your book, it is a beautiful, unique, work of art, uncut, unedited.  This book is original.  It is unlike so many of the oral history projects you read done by professionals -- you were able to get so close to the people, they identified with you, they felt comfortable with you and they were able to open up to you.  They could not do that if you were representing a newspaper or some scientific group. -- I love your book."

The fact that Dr. Rasmussen said that about my collection makes all my long nights up working on this document worthwhile.  I could not receive a higher compliment  I was honored to be the one to permanently document his story.

Also, the cover of my book is a photo of a work of art by Connie West, wife of Don West.  Don West and wife, Connie West are famous in their own right regarding the study of the labor movement in America.

This self-published book and my website have had a huge impact on my life and this region.  I have visited Japan (participant at the International Mining Congress), West Virginia Book Festival (the only self-published author attending), I have joined the Black Lung Association, attended the Kentucky Storytellers Conference in Bardstown, KY and Ivy and Stone are sponsoring me for a "Literary Lunch" on Dec. 2, 2004.  This gives me additional opportunities to tell the world about the wonderful, sometimes extremely difficult circumstances which surround us here in the remote, rural mountains of Appalachia.

This is a look about Appalachia from the inside out, finally.

B. L. Dotson-Lewis, author, Appalachia:  Spirit Triumphant