 So either that romanticized view of people who were stuck in the past or this sort of demonized view of people who cannot adapt, both can be used to justify the erasure of the places that those people live and the culture that they are holding on to. What was your reaction to the book at the time? Yeah, so I am from Western North Carolina, identify very much as Appalachian. I'm a twice graduate from Appalachian State University.