about the author
John Foster West was born in 1918 near Champion Post Office (Wilkes County) in the foothills of western North Carolina. West, the son of a tenant farmer, attended eight public schools, graduating from Morganton (N.C.) High School. He taught English and creative writing at Appalachian State University, in Boone, North Carolina. He is the author of Lift up Your Head, Tom Dooley, The Ballad of Tom Dula, and The Summer People