Regarding Charlie

Asheville in the 21st century cultivates the soft corruption of backroom dealing and the invasive influence of developer cash, but the community has learned to fight back. Struggles require leaders willing and eager to get in front of the parade and pump a baton. But others are content, often happiest, to remain in the background— organizing, advocating, teaching and encouraging legions of citizens to stand up and join in. Charlie Thomas (author of Scrip) is among the latter-his life dedicated to social and economic justice, spanning the postwar era and our nation. From the coal mines of Harlan County to the battlegrounds of anti-war, anti-racist, union and municipal politics, his journey invites our respectful attention.

Cecil Bothwell's writing has exposed evangelist Billy Graham's love of war and launched an investigation that sent Buncombe County Sheriff Bobby Lee Medford to die in federal prison. In his twentieth book he examines Asheville's recent history as shaped by the work of a heretofore unsung paladin. A former
investigative reporter, Mountain Xpress managing editor, city council member and congressional candidate, Bothwell qualifies as an expert witness in the case prosecuted in these pages.