Puckett takes a new look at the relationship between language, society, and economics by examining how people talk about work in a rural Appalachian community. Through careful analysis of conversations in casual yet commercial contexts, she finds that the construction and maintenance of this discourse is essential to the community's socioeconomic relationships. The volume will appeal to linguists, anthropologists, and scholars in communications and Appalachian studies.

Using the author?s own experiences in addition to a survey of 150 creative writing teachers, this book critiques the creative writing workshop and suggests a possible replacement that ?unsilences? the writer and recognises the complexities of the student?teacher relationship by focussing on dialogue rather than criticism.