The 15 papers presented in this conference report explore changes in Appalachian mountain life over the preceding three decades; the persistence of old problems, economic and cultural; and alternative paths for the future. Opening remarks by Wendell Berry focus on the value of community and on the survival of a community in an externally controlled economy. Other participants describe the persistent relationships between "bad economics" and bad local politics, the demise of the mountain farm, the crisis in the coal industry, the feminization of poverty, environmental assaults on national forest lands, and the decline of organized labor in Appalachia. Some papers propose alternative development strategies for Appalachia based on the concept of a sustainable society and on deliberate developmental efforts, reshaping economic development to overcome geographic determinism, particularly with community efforts. One paper considers the role of the local liberal arts college as a resource for progress through rural adult education; another profiles the Appalachian economy and places it in the national context. In his introduction, Ronald D. Eller comments that the current Appalachian economic crisis may foreshadow the permanent "Appalachianizing" of other regions of America as well. Contributors include Wendell Berry, Karen Armstrong-Cummings, Salim Kublawi, Cynthia Duncan, Ben Poage, Curtis Seltzer, John G. McNutt, Guy L. Osborne, Michael V. Carter, Arthur C. Butler, Richard A. Couto, Ann R. Tickamyer, Joe Szakos, Albert J. Fritsch, Michael J. McDonald, Bruce Wheeler, Raymond S. Ferell, and John Calhoun Wells. (DHP)