Foxfire Books

“Anyone read this series of books?”

“my grandfather has these...they're pretty interesting...when ever he is bored he'll pick a project out of one of them and give it a try...they're pretty good for short reading too, for when you have just a few minutes to kill and don't really want to get into a long book”

“I had a collection of the first five. They're long gone now. Very interesting stuff at the time.”

“i am rereading
captian blood”

“Is that part of the "How to be a Pirate" Foxfire series?”

“I've read over the one on medicine.
They used to use turpintine for everything. Pretty scarey stuff some of it.”

“Kerosene and sugar was the cure for most everything on the farm on which my mother was raised.”

“Or mercury. Even scarier.”

“no bit far from it.
dark book”

“But is it part of the foxfire series?”

“my grandfather made some homebrew from one once but he didn't end up drinking it...he used it to start brush fires instead!! LOL”

“I imagine that Papazian's The Complete Joy of Homebrewing would be better for that anyway.”

“no i dont think so

it is an old book

Captain Blood : a novel of epic revenge
by Michael Blodgett

Type: English : Book : Fiction
Publisher: New York : Stonehill Pub. Co., ©1979.”

“i need glasses, i thought the thread said
favorite book haha”

“I've read or at least perused them. My dad has all of them. Great project to document Appalachian life.”

“Oh, that explains so much. Thanks.”

“oh hush you !!!”

“I have browsed/read most of em. Very informative and enjoyable.”

“Bit, you won't believe what's in some of our kid's vaccinations......













You guessed it! Mercury.”

“Sure, as a preservative.

Mercury is really good at killing stuff....

Before the advent of sulfas and antibiotics, mercury was used to cure syphilis.”

“The amounts are technically enough to cause brain damage to a 500 pound man in some of them.”

“Eliot Wigginton, the Editor of the early books was kind enough to sign one of my copies.
I read all the early books.

It's a sad story about Wigginton.
I still believe he was falsely convicted of those child abuse charges. This happened back in the bad ol days when false accusations were very common and unless you were very rich, you didn't stand a chance in he11 of fighting one.”

“LOL
Mapes is in mapleleafland again! ;-)”

“Eight of the first nine of the books were edited by Eliot Wigginton, a high school teacher at the Rabun Gap-Nacoochee School (now the Rabun County, Georgia high school), based on articles his students had written that were previously published in magazine form. The magazine was named after foxfire, the bioluminescent glow sometimes seen in a forest. The magazine was founded in 1966 by Wigginton, who was awarded a MacArthur Foundation fellowship in 1989.

Though conceived primarily as a sociological work, the books, particularly the early ones, were a commercial success as instructional works. Members of the back to the land movement used them as a blueprint for their attempts to return to a life of simplicity.”

“My father grew up on a farm located right across the creek from the Rabun Gap-Nacoochee School and attended high school and junior college there from about 1928 to 1934.

Burt Reynolds and company brought notoriety to that neighborhood by filming the movie 'Deliverance' in the vicinity with the final scenes of the movie being at the then family style restaurant (now major Touron Trap) located just across the highway from the school.

My father and many of the other local folks did not appreciate the 'hippie-esque' tone of the Foxfire books.
last edited: 8/26/05 5:13:10 PM”

“I had the first five and still have two. I liked his intros which reflected a lot of my teaching philosophy.

I am shocked to read that he was accused of abuse. Does anyone have any details?
last edited: 8/29/05 10:41:51 AM”

“I've never heard of the abuse reports. I read a few of the books back in college (too many years ago) and I've often considered picking up the set to have on hand.”

“I have read all of them. Somewhere in my travels and moves, I donated them to Goodwill.

Now that I actually have time to read, I wish I had them all back.”

“I have the first 4. I used to have them all, but like my Patrick McManus books, I have learned to never lend them....they never make it back they are so good.
I haven't heard of the abuse allegations.”