Dan Pierce, Ph.D.

Mountain South Distinguished Professor of History

Contact Information

  • dpierce@unca.edu
  • 232-2996
  • 203 Whitesides Hall

Office Hours

  • Monday 11:00 am - 3:00 pm
  • Wednesday 11:00 am - 3:00 pm
  • Thursday 10:00 am - 12:00 pm
  • Note:

Curriculum Vitae

Education

  • Ph.D. History – University of Tennessee, 1995
  • M.A. History – University of Alabama, 1988
  • Higher Ed. B.S. Education – Western Carolina University, 1978

Research Interests

  • Environmentalism and the Environment in the Southern Appalachian Region
  • Stock Car Racing/NASCAR History
  • Southern and Southern Appalachian Culture
  • Race Relations in the South

Publications

Articles

  • "’Bib Overalls and Bad Teeth’: Stock Car Racing and the Piedmont Working Class" in Atlanta History. Fall 2004.
  • “The Road to Nowhere: Tourism Development vs. Environmentalism in the Great Smoky Mountains" in Southern Journeys: Tourism and the New South (University of Alabama Press, 2003).
  • "Logging in the Great Smoky Mountains," 35-page booklet published by the Great Smoky Mountains Association. July, 2003.
  • “The Most Southern Sport on Earth: NASCAR and the Unions,” Southern Cultures, Summer 2001.
  • “The Barbarism of the Huns: Family and Community Removal in the Establishment of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park,” Tennessee Historical Quarterly, Spring/Summer 1998.
  • Articles on Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Anne Davis, Governor Austin Peay, Bristol Speedway in The Encyclopedia of Tennessee History and Culture (Nashville: Tennessee Historical Commission, 1998).
  • Encyclopedia articles on Great Smoky Mountains and southern stock car racing in The Encyclopedia of Appalachia, The New Georgia Encyclopedia, The South Carolina Encyclopedia, The Encyclopedia of Alabama, and The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture.

Consulting

  • “The Golden Era of Stock Car Racing, 1936-1971.” Stonebridge Productions. Consultant and on-camera appearance. 2006.
  • "Mountain Thunder: The History of Stock Car Racing in Buncombe County, North Carolina." A program sponsored by the Buncombe County Library System consisting of seven community programs and a thirty-page booklet. Summer 2003.
  • "Pops: The Curtis Turner Story." Stonebridge Productions, 2003. Consultant and on-camera appearance.
  • "The Mystery of George Masa." Bonesteel Films, 2002. Consultant and on-camera appearance.
  • "Speed and Spirit: NASCAR in America." Proposed museum exhibit at Atlanta History Center in conjunction with the Smithsonian Institution. History consultant, 1998-2001.

Courses Taught

  • The Historians Craft
  • Civil War and Reconstruction
  • North Carolina History
  • Southern Appalachian History
  • History of the American South
  • The National Parks
  • Environmental Indian

Favorite History Related Links