Description

Through a Young Boy’s Eyes:  A Memoir of Appalachia in the 1960s, is a riveting account of a boy growing up in the heart of the Appalachian coal fields during a decade of modern innovations, societal conflict, and war.  The book chronicles Thomas Lee Brown’s journey from his isolated mountain home into the world via formal schooling, travel with his parents and grandparents, and exposure to radio and television. This fictional work, heavily influenced by the author’s own childhood spent deep in the mountains of Appalachian America, explores the perceptions and emotions of a young child confronted with both familial and societal changes and his resilience in meeting  those challenges bolstered by the love and support of his family and community.

About the Author

James Franklin Simpson was born at home in Cawood, Kentucky, in 1954.  The son of a public school teacher and stay-at-home mom, he spent his formative years growing up in the deeply-forested Appalachian mountains of eastern Kentucky. As a young boy, James experienced poverty, underfunded schools, geographical isolation, cultural segregation, and loss, all of which served as the impetus for his desire to become well-educated; he earned a Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University.  James was chosen as Kentucky’s School Superintendent of the Year in 1995, by the American Association of School Administrators, and rounded out his career serving as a graduate-level professor at Georgetown College for almost a decade.