Versions of “Natural Man” in Appalachia

In the Appalachian region we claim that we want to preserve a knowledge of the natural person living close to the soil, and hardly a day goes by that we do not hear, understandably, a lament for the passing of a simpler way of life. But what is it we are lamenting and exactly who is this natural person that we wish to remember as we move toward the twentyfirst century and more and more artificiality? I submit that the natural person we profess to admire is a many-sided individual with complex and contradictory antecedents. I base this opinion on