Absentee Landowning and Exploitation in West Virginia, 1760-1920

Absentee landowning has long been tied to economic distress in Appalachia. In this important revisionist study, Barbara Rasmussen examines the nature of landownership in five counties of West Virginia and its effects upon the counties' economic and social development.Rasmussen untangles a web of outside domination of the region that commenced before the American Revolution, creating a legacy of ha...