“This book is highly likely to become a work as enduring as its popular subject.” — Southern Cultures
“Convincing and well documented.” — CHOICE
“Bold, adept, and often shrewd. . . . Rarely has so much rich food for thought been served with such panache.” — Journal of Southern History
“A complex, entertaining, and insightful book.” — Journal of American History
“For this splendid book Williamson should be given some kind of prize. . . . It is that good. The questions Williamson raises have far-reaching implications.” — Journal of American Culture
“Will be of value to those interested in film and popular culture, to those concerned with the invention (or continual reinvention) of Appalachia, and to those who just enjoy a good read. . . . An instant classic, required reading for hillbillies everywhere. Ma and Pa Kettle give it two thumbs up.” — West Virginia History
“To Williamson’s great credit, he does not smuggle in a political tract under the guise of film criticism. He sees each movie, tawdry or sublime, as a setting for cosmic forces in collision. Producers, technicians, actors, and audiences come together in darkened palaces, smoky bars, and couch-potato living rooms. Williamson illuminates their respective visions; he manages to experience film from the perspective of bikers and hikers, dopers and ropers.” — Archie Green, author of Wobblies, Pile Butts, and Other Heroes: Laborlore Explorations
“Williamson reminds us that the themes in the hillbilly movies are versions of universals; and because the movies mirror, create, and are culture, the symbols and myths they employ are not just the stuff of literature or literary criticism but the stuff of life. As Pogo used to say, 'We have met the sub-text, and she is us.'” — Henry D. Shapiro, author of Appalachia on Our Mind: The Southern Mountains and Mountaineers in the American Consciousness
