“Earl Hess’s study offers a modern and critical analysis of Lincoln Memorial University’s history and mission. This solidly written narrative will contribute to a better understanding of higher education in Appalachia and of one of the region’s older and distinguished institutions.” -- Shannon Wilson, author of Berea College: An Illustrated History

"Unlike many histories of colleges and universities, this one often becomes a page-turner. -- David Madden, author of Sharpshooter

Located near Cumberland Gap in the rugged hills of East Tennessee, Lincoln Memorial University (LMU) was founded in 1897 to help disadvantaged Appalachian youth and reward the descendents of Union loyalists in the region. Its founder, former Union General Oliver Otis Howard, was a personal friend of Abraham Lincoln. Howard who made it his mission to sustain an institution of higher learning in the mountain South that would honor the memory of the Civil War president.

Lincoln Memorial University and the Shaping of Appalachia, is a highly readable and compelling history of the school. Yet the book is much more than a chronology of past events. The author uses the institution’s history to look at wider issues in Appalachian scholarship, including race and the modernization of educational methods in Appalachia. LMU offered a work-learn program to help students pay their way, imparting the value of self-help, and it was hit by a massive student strike that nearly wrecked the institution in 1930. LMU has played an important role in shaping what higher learning could be for young people in its region of southern Appalachia.

The volume examines the involvement of O. O. Howard and his unflagging efforts to establish and fund the school; the influence of early twentieth-century industrial capitalism—Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller were benefactors—on Appalachia and LMU in particular; and the turn-of-the-century cult of Lincoln that made the university a major repository of Lincolniana.

Meticulously researched and richly illustrated, Lincoln Memorial University and the Shaping of Appalachia is a fresh look at the creation, contributions, and enduring legacies of LMU. Students, alumni, and friends of the university, as well as scholars of Appalachian culture and East Tennessee history, will find this book both enlightening and entertaining.