ABSTRACT
This chapter describes major regional problems such as poverty, underdevelopment, and environmental degradation. It presents examination of a number of arguments that have been advanced by social scientists. The chapter examines some of the specific development schemes that have affected the Appalachian region and attempt to evaluate their successes and failures. The best-known projects have been those fostered by federal agencies, including the Appalachian Regional Commission and the Tennessee Valley Authority, and it is such examples that are of primary interest. The characteristic of Appalachia cited most often by residents and nonresidents alike is poverty. One of the first to argue that the poverty and backwardness of Appalachia's people were derived from their ancestry was historian John Fiske. In searching for explanations for Appalachian poverty, one could conclude that culture-based theories have predominated in the literature. Such an infrastructure was not developed because of the long history of control over Appalachian land and labor by a few dominant economic activities.
