Root Diggers and Herb Gatherers: How Appalachia Helped Launch the Pharmaceutical Industry

Join author Luke Manget as he discusses his book, Ginseng Diggers: A History of Root and Herb Gathering in Appalachia (University of Kentucky Press, 2022). The book investigates how and why the Appalachian region became the United States’ most important supplier of wild medicinal plants, including ginseng, to the markets of the world. It also follows the diggers into the forest to see how root-and-herb gathering shaped local land-use, economy, social relations, and ecology.

Luke Manget is an Instructor of American Studies & Humanities at the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics in Morganton. He has been teaching history at the high school and college level since 2005, including stops at Murphy High School (NC), University of Tennessee-Chattanooga, and Dalton State College.