Anthony Harkins is University Distinguished Professor at Western Kentucky University. His work explores the diverse stories of rural America, with a particular focus on Appalachia. Harkins uses a variety of archives—including oral stories, country music, literature, and photography—to illuminate the depth of Appalachian identity.
His most recent book, Appalachian Reckoning: A Region Responds to Hillbilly Elegy (co-edited with Meredith McCarroll), won the 2020 Appalachian Studies Association Weatherford Award for best nonfiction book on Appalachia and the Walter & Lillian Lowenfels Criticism Award from the Before Columbus Foundation. The volume pushes back against the singular narrative of Appalachian life popularized by Hillbilly Elegy, offering visions of anger, hope, and critical awareness of the region’s intellectual vitality, spiritual richness, and progressive possibilities.
