Arranged chronologically, this reference work provides production company-written plot synopses or, when a synopsis was not available, trade paper reviews of 476 films about moonshining, feuding, coal mining, mountain love triangles, and many other topics. Also provided are studio, date of release, and length.

The stereotypical hillbilly figure in popular culture provokes a range of responses, from bemused affection for Ma and Pa Kettle to outright fear of the mountain men in "Deliverance." In "Hillbillyland," J. W. Williamson investigates why hillbilly images are so pervasive in our culture and what purposes they serve. He has mined more than 800 movies, from early nickelodeon one-reelers to contemporary films such as "Thelma and Louise" and "Raising Arizona," for representations of hillbillies in their recurring roles as symbolic 'cultural others.' Williamson's hillbillies live not only in the hills of the South but anywhere on the rough edge of society. And they are not just men; women can be hillbillies, too. According to Williamson, mainstream America responds to hillbillies because they embody our fears and hopes and a romantic vision of the past. They are clowns, children, free spirits, or wild people through whom we live vicariously while being reassured about our own standing in society.

Published in 1977, this collection of essays was published to honor Cratis D. Williams upon his retirement from Appalachian State University. Williams was an influential scholar, folklorist, teacher, and administrator who spent much of his career focused on the Appalachian region. Contributors to the volume are Louie Brown, Ronald J. Eller, Alan J. Crain, Stephen Fisher, Wilma Dykeman, Henry Shapiro, David S. Walls, Gene Wilhelm Jr., Robert Paul Sessions, David Looff, John Opie, Loyal Jones, Gordon McKinney, Chester Young, Robert J. Higgs, Amos Abrams, Jean Ritchie, Betty N. Smith, Joan Moser, Raymond O'Cain, and John R. Hopkins.