In an Appalachian College Town (Paperback)

For the last eight years, Brian Fitzgerald Murphy has called Southern California home. Now, this engineer, who graduated from the University of Notre Dame and later earned an MBA, is looking to leave the West Coast to be closer to his roots and his family in the East. Murphy ditches both his surfboard and the business world to join the staff at Appalachian University in Corinth. On the surface, Corinth, a charming town with old Victorian houses nestled in the forested mountain slopes of Appalachia, appears to be idyllic. But the more he becomes acquainted, the more jaded he becomes. Murphy learns quickly to navigate life in a small college town with a binge-drinking problem. There are lessons to be learned everywhere-from the dating scene, the party life, and the stress of its job and its expectations. While exploring social issues ranging from class consciousness, sexual identity, nationalism, racism, and religion, "In an Appalachian College Town" captures the off-the-wall grad student shenanigans that balance the more serious aspects of university life.