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Allie Ferguson was my great, great, grandmother and now I know more about her and her sister Molly. This book has been great to have and help with research into the Ferguson family

Great book to help understand and appreciate the locale!

Enjoyed this book because it had a lot of information about my husband ‘s family in Brown County.

Excellent work of folklore by Dillon Bustin. His text, to accompany the wonderful photographs, makes for engaging reading.

Brown County, part of southern Indiana's Hill Country, is a great destination for landscape artists, bird lovers, and folks digging for their genealogical roots (not ginseng). Dillon Bustin's book "IF YOU DON'T OUTDIE ME" was inspired by photographer Frank Hohenberger, & has been popular ever since its 1982 publication by Indiana University Press. However, they do not respond to continuing pleas that it be reprinted.

The reason may be that in 1993 I.U. Press published "Frank Hohenberger's Indiana Photographs" (isbn: 025331285X). (One 1931 photo in that book, edited by Cecil Byrd, shows a harnessed white horse at Corydon's historic Capitol Square; the horse appears to be reading a sign: "NO AUTO PARKING.") Hohenberger's sense of humor kept him young. When I first met Frank Hohenberger he was in his early 70s, though I wouldn't have guessed that (see picture on p.35 when he was 57).

Bustin's 13 vignettes (not exactly a Brown County word!) include Harry Kelp - - the one who actually "OUTDIED" the others. In the late 40s he lived on Nashville's Village Green by the Methodist Church with his sister Olive. She happened to be the one who invited me to transfer my membership from upstate New York, and she was a truly caring lady. Allie Ferguson is shown (p.45) outside her boarding house down the street. It later became "the Ferguson House shop" with antiques (& maybe some junk) that owner Alice Weaver, a strong-minded resident, might or might not allow you to buy. "Grandma Barnes" (read p.124-131) is still the subject of stories and songs. The very touching photograph on p.129 was taken when she was the *FIRST* Brown County Blossom Festival Queen, chosen at the insistence of "outsider" artists!

Other photos chosen by Dillon Bustin are among my favorites: p.2, Mullis making shingles; p.106, Bohall making baskets; p.114, the Beisels making music. Bustin wrote that "Brown County is the nearest part of the South in the North" . . .& . . . "the inhabitants of those hills have always been skilled at factional feuding" . . . & . . . "they have an indefinable folksy essence that draws people to the area" . . . "they can indulge in a flexibility with Time." The author's *Prologue* includes a picture from Nov.1929 (possibly the week of the stock market crash) showing the Liars' Bench which had been trashed on Halloween night. One 'local' said, "It's worse'n bad. It's th' ruination uv th' town." Another Nashville icon, the old Log Jail, was built in 1879 (at a cost of $1500.). It generated some of that feuding when folks put up resistance to having the Jail turned into a concession with tickets sold for tours.

In contrast to feuding & pranks is a picture (p.7) taken from the hill, now Locust Lane above the Courthouse, showing a lovely pastoral scene. That 'look' has disappeared & now all is bustle, while the 'natives' & 'non' continue arguing about just what constitutes the special quality of life here. Reviewer mcHAIKU is content to lean back and simply enjoy.