The Tennessee Valley: A Photographic Portrait

Review originally published in Forum for Applied Research and Public Policy 14(1), p. 122, 1999.The South is rapidly changing. These changes--some for the better, some for the worse--are reflected in many aspects of our collective lives. Today, the South is more integrated racially, economically, and geographically than it was 50 years ago. The region's people are more educated than their parents and grandparents. And though the South still reflects a strong rural influence, there aren't as many family farms as there used to be. The technological revolution that today is transforming virtually every aspect of southern life would have been unimaginable even a few decades ago. In addition, a far higher percent of women and minorities are now part of the regional labor force, and fewer Southerners live in poverty. In "The Tennessee Valley: A Photographic Portrait," Robert Kollar and Kelly Leiter document these changes, without railing against or praising them. Kollar and Leiter obviously recognize the special role of custom, continuity, and tradition in the South. The Tennessee Valley--which includes parts of Tennessee, North Carolina, Virginia, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Kentucky--is not a monolithic region. Rather it consists of many diverse subregions and a kaleidoscope of geography, people, lifestyles, and eccentricities. Although the book spotlights the effects of widespread industrialization, the authors maintain that the South remains essentially rural.This book is an eclectic collection of things southern: barbecue restaurants, "See Rock City" signs, used-cow ads, roadside fruit and vegetable stands, Friday night high school football games, homecomings on family burial grounds, courthouse squares, homemade quilts, general stores, and, of course, the requisite number of special dogs and other pets.Throughout the book's five major divisions--The Valley, The People, The Workplace, The Visitors, and The River--the authors' special fondness for the South shines through. Kollar and Leiter capture ordinary people getting on with their daily lives in a region that is still defining itself. Leiter, dean emeritus of the College of Communications at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, writes in a style that is informative, spare, direct, and to the point but still conveys Southerners' deep feelings for their home place. Kollar, chief photographer for the Tennessee Valley Authority, has won many awards for his work. His continuous travels throughout the region for more than two decades have provided him with almost endless special photographic opportunities. This collection of 240 of his color pictures, which convey the special quality and feeling the photographer felt when he took them, complements Leiter's matter-of-fact prose.Although the quality of the photographs and the writing are excellent, one might wish for more of both. The cutlines could have been expanded to include more text, for example.