Gerald Swick: 3 books

“Historical human interest stories.”That’s how a reader described Gerald D. Swick’s column of West Virginia history, “Once, Long Ago,” which appeared each Sunday in the Clarksburg Exponent Telegram for over sixteen years. His unique combination of historical research, skillful narrative,...

The State of West Virginia was born by cesarean section, its survival chances precarious, its legitimacy in question. The last slaveholding state admitted to the Union, it is the only state that owes its existence to America’s Civil War. In Virginia’s counties west of the Shenandoah Valley grievances...

West Virginia is a state of overwhelming beauty. Shared traditions, shared tragedies, and shared histories bind its people to the land and each other with a strong sense of place, family, and home. In striking black-and-white photos culled from state and national archives, accompanied by text from...