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The Galax GatherersThe Gospel among the HighlandersWith an Introduction by Mark Huddle Series foreword by Durwood Dunn Guerrant, Edward O. Paper Edition, $19.95s Paper ISBN: 1-57233-363-4 Status: In Print Publication Date: 2/10/2005 
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DescriptionPerhaps no group has had such a controversial place in the literature of Appalachian studies as the home missionaries. Accused of cultural and religious imperialism, many scholars fault home missionaries for casting mountain peoples in the role of “other,” as well as for partnering with economic interests to exploit the region's resources.Edward O. Guerrant, a Kentucky-born, one-time Confederate soldier, physician, and Presbyterian minister, has been singled out as one of the worst offenders. For most of his adult life, Guerrant traveled the hills and hamlets of southern Appalachia, spreading gospel, building churches, and recording his keen observations of the landscape and the people. In 1910, Guerrant published The Galax Gatherers: The Gospel among the Highlanders, an account of these travels and his efforts at establishing home missionaries. He was remarkably successful: he recruited nearly three thousand new Church members in his first four-year term as “Synodical Evangelist,” organized twenty-five congregations, and built fifteen houses of worship. Reissued here for the first time, this book is a fascinating look at Guerrant's beliefs, prejudices, and vision for a people Guerrant regarded as “left behind” by the modern world. Mark Huddle's introduction to this edition places both Guerrant and his writing within a broader context of dramatic changes in American Protestantism at the end of the nineteenth century. He argues that the complex interactions between the inhabitants of the region and various home missions defy simplistic generalizations about religion and the perception of cultural isolation in Appalachia. The republication of this work promises to reignite debates over Appalachia's unique place in the history of the nation as a whole. Mark Huddle is an assistant professor of history at St. Bonaventure University. | |