This book is a first-of-its-kind treatment of the ballad novels of Sharyn McCrumb. It contains articles and essays about all aspects of McCrumb’s work, including literary criticism, interpretation, and practical suggestions for teaching the ballad novels. Teachers from the United States and abroad have long asked for a good source book help them in their quest to teach the ballad novesl and to open the curlture of the Appalachian Mountains as it really is to their students. From a Race of Storytellers: Essays on the Ballad Novels of Sharyn McCrumb has been compiled to fill this need. From a Race of Storytellers will also be attractive to the general reader who wants to read more about the characters who inhabit McCrumb’s fictional Hamelin, Tennessee, and to better understand the events that occur there. Through essays written by fourteen different scholars of McCrumb’s fiction and one by McCrumb herself, readers will gain a deeper understanding of the real southern Appalachian mountains, not just the popular image. Like McCrumb, each author is committed to examining what it means to live in Appalachia.