Slender Is the Thread: Tales from a Country Law Office

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Summary: Slender is the Thread Provides Insight to Country Law Antics
Review: Slender is the Thread is an account of the attorney/author Harry M. Caudill's law practice in the Appalachian community of Letcher County, KY. In his book, Caudill relives various cases and political events in his life in this country county. Much of his writing is witty and satirical in dealing with some very serious issues. He writes of corruption in the legal and political system as well as "mountain" ways of dealing with daily problems in the lives of mountain folk. The book provides vivid and colorful accounts allowing the reader to become absorbed in Caudill's words to the point of feeling like you are there. The names of various real persons and politicians in Letcher county are mentioned in the book. The book also provides some very interesting history of Letcher county and Appalachian region of Kentucky. Caudill has written other books like "Night Comes to the Cumberlands" and "Theirs Be the Powers." Caudill is presently dead and his books on Appalachia are very scarce but well worth the extra effort to obtain for reading. I rate "Slender is the Thread" with four stars.

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Summary: Review of "Slender is the Thread"
Review: This book almost tells the reader more than he wants to know. How could crooked politicians, coal and lumber companies take such advantage of a poverty stricken and illiterate people to hold them down like animals (or worse) generation after generation? The stories are fascinating but there is always the underlying sadness of knowing this actually happened and much of it still thrives. Little has changed in 200 years.