From the Monongah mine disaster and mountaintop removal toMountain Memories,these are some of the topics that captured readersattention in 2007. Here is a look at West Virginia University Presss top 10 sellers from July-December.

Released in early December,Monongah: The Tragic Story of the 1907 Monongah Mine Disaster, the Worst Industrial Accident in U.S. Historyhas already become the top seller for the WVU Press this fiscal year. The release of”Monongah”commemorated the 100th anniversary of an explosion that claimed the lives ofhundreds ofmen and boys in a Monongah coal mine. Written by WVU alumnus and international mine safety advocate Davitt McAteer as part of the Presss West Virginia and Appalachia Series,Monongahhas sold almost twice as many copies as the book that holds the second spot on the list.

Coming in at No. 2 is the second edition ofWest Virginia: A History, by John Alexander Williams.The first edition was published in 1976 by W.W. Norton&Co. Inc. under the titleWest Virginia: A Bicentennial History.This edition was first published by the WVU Press in 2001. Used in many West Virginia history courses, it is widely considered to be one of the finest introductory books written about the Mountain State.

Bringing Down the Mountains: The Impact of Mountaintop Removal on Southern West Virginia Communitiestakes the third spot on the list of top sellers. Another title of the West Virginia and Appalachia series, this book by Shirley Stewart Burns gives an informed and passionate account of the effect that the increasing use of mountaintop removal has had and will have on the landscape and families of southern West Virginia.

First printed in 2005, Reading Old English: A Primer and First Reader is the No. 4 best-seller. Robert Hasenfratz and Thomas Jambecks clear and effective approach has made this textbook popular in introductory Old English courses. Old English is an early form of the English language that was written and spoken during a period of 700 years, between the mid-fifth century and the mid-12th century. One common example of literature written in the language is the epic poemBeowulf.

The fifth spot on the list belongs to Potomac State College of WVU English professor Kevin Stewart and his debut collection of short stories,The Way Things Always Happen Here.This collection includes eight stories set in a fictional West Virginia county and one novella set in the Arkansas Ozarks.

Rounding out the top 10 areThe Potomac Canal: George Washington and the Waterway West,a recently released history of the new nations first effort to link the rich western lands with the eastern coastal cities, at No. 6;Defending the Homeland,a collection of scholarly essays that discusses different responses to terrorism throughout history, at No. 7;Kartoon Kings: The Graphic Work of Simon Grennan and Christopher Sperandio,a full-color collection and analysis of images by the two artists, at No. 8;Mountain Memories: An Appalachian Sense of Place,a collection of photographs that captures the untamed beauty of West Virginia, at No. 9; andHollows, Peepers&Highlanders,an intimate look at the ecology of the Appalachian region, at No. 10.

For more information about these books, contact the WVU Press athttp://www.wvupress.com/or 1-866-WVU-PRESS (1-866-988-7737).