Foxfire Complete Collection. Books 1-12

by Eliot Wigginton (editor), George P. Reynolds, Foxfire Students

For over 40 years, high school students in Foxfire programs have helped to gather and publish information about their Southern Appalachian heritage. Best known for the best-selling Foxfire Book series, the series and the other topical titles were all grown from interviews gathered for The Foxfire Magazine. The success of the student-driven program led to professional research that generated the Foxfire Approach to Teaching and Learning and its support materials for use by other educators hoping to achieve similar levels of student involvement and create life-long learners.

Paperback

About the author

Eliot Wigginton (born Brooks Eliot Wigginton) is an American oral historian, folklorist, writer and former educator. He was most widely known for developing the Foxfire Project, a writing project that led to a magazine and the series of best-selling Foxfire books, twelve volumes in all. These were based on articles by high school students from Rabun County, Georgia. In 1986 he was named "Georgia Teacher of the Year" and in 1989 he was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship.
Wigginton was born in West Virginia on November 9, 1942. His mother, Lucy Freelove Smith Wiggington, died eleven days later of "pneunomia due to acute pulmary edema," according to her death certificate. His maternal grandmother, Margaret Pollard Smith, was an associate professor of English at Vassar College and his father was a famous landscape architect, also named Brooks Eliot Wiggington. His family called him Eliot. He earned his Bachelor's and Master's degrees in English from Cornell University and a second Master's from Johns Hopkins University. In 1966, he began teaching English in the Rabun Gap-Nacoochee School, located in the Appalachian Mountains of northeastern Georgia.
Wigginton began a writing project based on his students' collecting oral histories from local residents and writing them up. They published the histories and articles in a small magazine format beginning in 1967. Topics included all manner of folklife practices and customs associated with farming and the rural life of southern Appalachia, as well as the folklore and oral history of local residents. The magazine began to reach a national audience and became quite popular.
The first anthology of collected Foxfire articles was published in book form in 1972, and achieved best-seller status. Over the years, the schools published eleven other volumes. (The project transferred to the local public school in 1977.)
In addition, special collections were published, including The Foxfire Book of Appalachian Cookery, Foxfire: 25 Years, A Foxfire Christmas, and The Foxfire Book of Appalachian Toys and Games. Several collections of recorded music from the local area were released.

Reviews

[Cat · Rating 5 out of 5]

I own the first four book from when they first came out. They were, and still are interesting reads. It amazed me, then, and still does today, that students actually went out into the field to interview all the old timers in their region to collect their stories. Once upon a time, I thought living like that would have been great- getting Back to the Land was a big thing back in the 70s. I know a lot better now. I do my own gardening- it's back breaking work- to provide myself and family with fresh veggies. I worry about the heavy metals in my soil, always have, but not much I can do about them, i'm guessing. Haven't killed any neighbors yet! They garden, too and some have lived to be in their 90s. I knew back then slaughtering animals was not something I would ever, ever do (tho' fish are alright and I have dressed ducks, geese... someone else has killed), real sure I could not do it. Still the stories were homey and reminded me of my own pioneer family in Tennessee and Oklahoma. Hardier then me in the 21st century! I still love reading the books for other info tho'! Worth a read for sure!

[Tina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think I was reading #9. Fascinating read about Appalachian culture, but written by high school students if that puts you off. I found it a little charming.

[Cat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love, love, love these books!! I've read 1-9 working on 10

[Ria H · Rating 5 out of 5]

These are great books. A little old country DIY, with liberal story-telling grandparent style. Reading about their lives will give you an appreciation for the life we are able to live now.