Running on Red Dog Road: And Other Perils of an Appalachian Childhood 9780310344964

Publishers Weekly:  Berkheimer candidly brings her personality to the page in this incredible journey from naivete to wide-eyed maturity.  (April 2016)Library Journal:  Berkheimer's homespun memoir provides a wistful look back at a simpler time. An appealing counterbalance to more dreary war-era accounts.  (May 2016)                                                                                 "Mining companies piled trash coal in a slag heap and set it ablaze. The coal burned up, but the slate didn't. The heat turned it rose and orange and lavender. The dirt road I lived on was paved with that sharp-edged rock. We called it red dog. Grandma said, Don't you go running on that red dog road. But I do."  Gypsies, faith-healers, moonshiners, and snake handlers cavort through Drema's childhood in 1940s Appalachia after her father is killed in the coal mines, her mother goes off to work as a Rosie the Riveter, and she is left in the care of devout Pentecostal grandparents. What foll