Announcing a New Book on the Hunger Games Saga (Including the Prequel)

A Place Called District 12: Appalachian Geography and Music in the Hunger Games, by Thomas Paradis

For highlights and background, please see an Interview with author Tom Paradis about his new book, A Place Called District 12. Provided by Religious Studies Professor, James McGrath, Butler University (June 2022)

Overview of the Book (Click image or title above for McFarland Release Announcement)

In creating her post-apocalyptic world of the Hunger Games, author Suzanne Collins pulls from a wide array of real-world history and geography lurking just beneath her captivating story line. Now within her recent prequel, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Collins pulls us ever deeper into Appalachia’s extraordinary cultural diversity and its storied musical traditions. Here geographer Thomas W. Paradis invites you on his own tour of human geography, history, and culture that collectively provide the foundation for the saga’s novels and films.

Written for fans, educators, and students of any age, A Place Called District 12 provides insightful background on scenes from the novels and films from the original series and recent prequel. Some highlights include the following topics:

• A geographical revision of District 12’s location within the Appalachian Mountains.
• Historical geography, architecture, and urban design of District 12, the Capitol, the Corso, the president’s mansion, the Victors Village, and the Cornucopias, including segments about major filming locations. 
• The historical development of Appalachian balladry, mountain string bands, early country music, and bluegrass, all of which are represented throughout the saga and District 12’s own bluegrass band, the Covey.
• Interpretations and meanings behind numerous key songs within the saga, including the “Valley Song,” “The Hanging Tree,” and “Keep on the Sunny Side”.
• The social history and working conditions of coal-mining communities on which Katniss’ home town is largely inspired.
• Katniss’ attachment to home, and how her personal identity is shaped by her multiple definitions of the home place.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Preface

Introduction

PART 1: Setting the Geographic Stage

1. District 12 of Central Appalachia
2. Places and Spaces of District 12
3. Katniss at Home
4. An Appalachian Melting Pot
5. Small Town in Panem
6. Portraying the Seam
7. Designing a Capital City
8. Panem as World System

PART 2: The Music of District 12

1. The Ballads of Appalachia
2.  Mountain String Bands
3.  District 12 Goes Country
4.  Bluegrass and the Covey
5.  Building the Bluegrass Sound
6.  A National Audience
7.  Maude Ivory the Songbird

Chapter Notes

Bibliography

Index