Wild, Tamed, Lost, Revived: The Surprising Story of Apples in the South
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Apples were crucial to American settlers, farmers, and pioneers: bountiful, adaptable, easily eaten fresh or preserved through a variety of methods. Although cooler climates may be the first places that come to mind when thinking of American apples, the fruit has a rich, complex, poignant history in the American South.
Diane Flynt, a former cider maker who now raises cider apples in the Virginia Blue Ridge Mountains, offers a detailed and vivid history of the apple’s particular role in Southern life. Her story celebrates apples and apple growers without shying away from darker elements, such as how apples were entwined with slavery and the displacement of indigenous peoples.
As the book’s title suggests, much of the role apples played in Southern life has been obscured or threatened by agribusiness and standardization. But Flynt has been a part of the effort to reclaim the individuality of Southern apples and she has had extraordinary access to others who support that effort, chronicling their battles and successes here.
A testament to the grip apples have on the American imagination, as well as an inspiration for keeping that connection alive.
Hardcover. Color photographs throughout.
