The current issue of "Kentucky Living" magazine contains an article by Gary Luhr entitled "Jesse Stuart: The Heritage," which I read with mixed feelings. Luhr’s essay is a well-deserved tribute to both David Dick, author of a recent book entitled "Jesse Stuart: The Heritage," and to Jesse Stuart, and I am please to see both men recognized for their accomplishments.

However, several points are, at best, a matter of opinion or interpretation, and there is one serious error that I wish to correct. Mr. Luhr questions why Jesse Stuart’s "work is seldom read today" and later Mr. Dick comments that Stuart is "slipping over the edge of obscurity."

That is simply not true. Jesse Stuart’s books are as popular and widely-read today as they were during his long, productive writing lifetime.

More than two dozen Stuart titles have been edited and republished by the Jesse Stuart Foundation and most of them have been reprinted many times in the last two decades. Three Stuart books, not issued in his lifetime, have been published and at least six books about Stuart have appeared since his death. Jesse Stuart books are widely read at every level of the educational system, from elementary school through high school and college, and Stuart stories, poems, and essays appear in dozens of new anthologies every year.

Stuart’s life and works are beacons that attract hundreds of visitors to Eastern Kentucky each year and the Jesse Stuart Foundation, proudly headquartered in Ashland, promotes Stuart’s legacy in a wide variety of ways that range from publications to an annual Jesse Stuart Weekend at Greenbo Lake State Resort Park.

Although it is true, as David Dick observes, that Stuart "tried unsuccessfully to get a master’s degree from Vanderbilt University," it might balance the story a bit to point out that during those early years of the depression, Jesse was living on eleven meals per week. His dormitory burned to the ground and his thesis was destroyed, but Stuart finished the school year before he borrowed a dollar from Don West and hitchhiked home. Although he never received an M.A. from Vanderbilt, he was awarded sixteen honorary doctorates during his lifetime.

Jesse Stuart’s legacy is not on the decline. It is reading, in general, that’s on the decline in America today, and that’s a problem that must be solved by individuals and families, as well as our school systems.

That said, I encourage you to give books for Christmas gifts. You don’t have to worry about the wrong size or the wrong color and a good book (if it is read by the recipient) is a gift that lasts forever.

For more information on Jesse Stuart or the work of the Jesse Stuart Foundation, visit our website: JSFBOOKS.COM.

Sam Hood, one of the authors of "Kentucky’s Civil War, 1861-1865" will be at the Jesse Stuart Foundation, Saturday December 17th from 10:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. This beautiful coffee table book would make an excellent Christmas present for the Civil War buff on your Christmas list.

Mr. Hood, from Huntington, is a collateral descendant of General John Bull Hood. He is a 1976 graduate of Marshall University, a Marine Corps veteran, and an active Civil War historian.