THE GREAT SMOKIES AND THE BLUE RIDGE

Second in Vanguard's American Mountain Series, this is a portrait of the Southern Appalachians, a region of ""disordered, tumbled ruggedness"" which has submitted little to time or change. Donald Culross Peattie presents the historical background, the chapters on the forests, on the flowers; Alberta Pierson Hannum contributes some fascinating material on the back country people, their folkways, their speech; other chapters contributed by various people, deal with geology, climate, crafts, music, etc. Some overlapping of Jean Thomas' Blue Ridge Country; and both are excellent jobs.