Okay, I’m Hooked: A Review of Graham Hoppe’s Gone Dollywood

To the left of the desk where I work stands a small shelf containing 114 books—I just counted them—nearly all of which are collections of essays. Here we find Joseph Epstein, whom many consider America’s greatest living essayist, feminist Camille Paglia, Catholic writer Anthony Esolen, atheist Christopher Hitchens, and a score of others. Standing shoulder to shoulder in this crowd are counselors, comedians, critics, doomsayers, sinners and saints.

Diverse as they are, the guests at this cocktail party of words possess one attribute in common: they think through their fingers. When I open these books, I find not paper and ink but human beings who share with me their victories and their defeats, their dreams and shattered hopes. They instruct me in everything from art and beauty to contemporary politics; they attempt to persuade me to change the path of my life; they urge me to learn more; they entertain me with their wit and their irreverence. Understand that our conversation is not at all one-sided, for these lively writers arouse the observations, questions, laughter, and asides of my interior self.

In Gone Dollywood: Dolly Parton’s Mountain Dream (Ohio University Press, 2018, 154 pages), Graham Hoppe offers his readers this same sense of conversation and thinking aloud on the page. Here is a warm, clear-headed analysis of Dolly Parton, Dollywood, and the place and meaning of this theme park in contemporary Appalachian culture.

When comparing Dollywood to Walt Disney World, for example, Hoppe makes an important point: Dollywood, despite its plastic and glitz, is seated in the heart of the mountains which it in so many ways represents. Disney World offers many fine attractions, but does little to celebrate the geography or the natives of Orlando, Florida.

In addition to writing about the various exhibits and buildings of Dollywood, Hoppe educates us on a number of other topics: music, a bit of Appalachian history, an insightful take on Cracker Barrel restaurants, country cooking, Pigeon Forge, and of course, Dolly Parton herself.

In regard to Cracker Barrel, for example, Hoppe gives us a brief history of the store’s founding and growth, pointing out that, like other chain restaurants, the expansion of Cracker Barrel was tightly linked to the growth of our interstate highway system. He examines what Dollywood and Cracker Barrel have in common, and looks at how both businesses have moved with the times. He gives us an excellent account of the battle at Cracker Barrel after one of the Duck Dynasty’s television stars verbally attacked homosexuals and brought some blowback to Cracker Barrel because the restaurant chain carried Duck Dynasty products. Throughout this chapter, and the book as a whole, I always felt as if a reasonable, witty and enthusiastic friend was seated at a table with me, telling me stories over coffee. 

Hoppe is, of course, enthusiastic about Parton and instilled that enthusiasm in this review. In his “Introduction,” he describes the various causes Parton has initiated or to which she subscribes. As a reader, my favorite of these charities is “Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library,” a venture that has donated more than sixty million books to children around the world. In this “Introduction,” Hoppe also writes: “What makes Dollywood different? What makes it matter? I think the answer is Parton herself. She is a force of nature who seems relentlessly creative. I’ve tried hard to keep everything in this book up to date and to use figures and examples that will remain current and relevant throughout the life of this book, but Parton is a moving target.” He goes on to say that even as his book was reaching completion, Parton announced “a world tour, unveiled a new roller coaster, purchased a new dinner theater in Pigeon Forge, released two TV movies based on her life and a couple of albums, and began planning a Broadway show.”

Notable among the many ways Parton has given her good fortune back to the mountains she loves was her reaction to the 2016 forest fire that burned its way through Sevier County. “With her home county devastated, Parton stepped in to help…Before she raised a cent of outside funds, she promised to provide each family that lost a home $1000 a month.” She then founded the My People Fund, raising more than $9 million from a telethon and other events. 

In his chapter titled “Biography, Persona, and Reality,” Hoppe gives readers who are only vaguely aware of Parton’s history—I was one of them—a helpful timeline of her career and a brief look at her private life and her public persona. Here he writes: “Imagine Dollywood if it wasn’t helmed by a woman who has been a pioneer, a progressive, an advocate, an evangelist, a hillbilly, a self-made millionaire, a genius, a wife, and an icon all without contradiction and without a hint of insincerity.” 

And at the end of Gone Dollywood, Hoppe sums up this woman in this way: 

“Parton brings worlds together … If you buy into Parton’s fantasies … you share that dream with her other fans. This means Christians, gays, liberals, conservatives, southerners, and people from all over the world are sharing a collective fantasy. That’s the lesson of Dollywood… if you don’t want a piece of Dolly Parton’s dream, you can go do your own thing. I’ll be at Dollywood.”

I have never visited Dolly Parton’s theme park in the mountains. After reading Gone Dollywood, I’ll soon be right there with you, Mr. Hoppe.

A fine book about a fine human being. You’ve given me a new hero. Thank you.