Jim Casada is a son of the Smokies who grew up in Bryson City, N. C. and says “a corner of my soul still belongs to the high country.” His formal education includes a B. A. in history from King University (Bristol, TN), an M. A. in British history from Virginia Tech (Blacksburg, VA),and a Ph. D. in British imperial history from Vanderbilt University (Nashville, TN). He taught at Winthrop University from 1971-1996 before taking early retirement to devote all his energies to writing. While at Winthrop he rose to the rank of full professor, served two terms as chair of the graduate faculty, was recognized as the institution’s Distinguished Professor in 1983, and won numerous excellence in teaching awards. As an academician, he wrote several books, roughly a hundred articles, and reviewed numerous books for scholarly journals. He was a Fellow at the University of Edinburgh’s Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities in 1977 and held research grants from the American Philosophical Society and other organizations.For many years, until his retirement from teaching, he was a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.
He is a long-time member of a number of outdoor writers’ groups and has served as president of the Outdoor Writers Association of America, the Southeastern Outdoor Press Association (SEOPA), and the South Carolina Outdoor Press Association (SCOPe), as well as being a founding board member of the Professional Outdoor Media Association. Casada has been honored by the first two organizations as recipient of their top service awards. He has won upwards of 200 awards from regional and national organizations for his writing and photography and has been the recipient of numerous honors including the Federation of Fly Fishers’ Arnold Gingrich Memorial Award for contributions to angling literature, the South Carolina Wildlife Federation’s Harry Hampton Memorial Award, and recognition as the National Wild Turkey Federation’s National Communicator of the Year. He was an inaugural inductee into the Fly Fishing Museum of the Southern Appalachians Hall of Fame and in 2018 was inducted into Southern Trout magazine’s Legends of the Fly Hall of Fame. He holds an honorary Life Membership in SEOPA in recognition of “long, loyal and distinguished service”to the organization and in 2016 SCOPe recognized him with its Lifetime Achievement Award.
Casada is the author or editor of dozens of books and has written forewords, contributed chapters, or provided introductions to almost 200 volumes. He writes a weekly newspaper column and holds or has held masthead positions with a number of magazines. He serves as Editor-at-Large and Book Columnist for Sporting Classics and contributes a regular column for Carolina Mountain Life magazine. Casada is Editor of the “Outdoor Tennessee” series published by the University of Tennessee Press and oversaw the “Firearms Classics” series from Palladium Press for the entirety of its existence. His work has appeared in virtually every major outdoor-related magazine and over the course of his career he has had more than 5000 articles published. He also does evaluations of sporting book collections and turkey calls, is available for talks on a wide variety of subjects, has served as a ghost writer for major book projects, and does editorial consultation. He is available for work in all these areas can be reached by e-mail (jimcasada@comporium.net),phone (803-329-4354), or mail (1250 Yorkdale Drive, Rock Hill, SC 29730).
Producer of an award-winning monthly e-newsletter available free through his website (www.jimcasadaoutdoors.com), Casada regularly has two or three books in progress in addition to his other endeavors. Current projects include work on a biography of Archibald Rutledge; a book of profiles on grand characters from the Great Smokies; a work on Appalachian food lore and recipes; and a collection of essays on people,places, and folkways of the southern Appalachians.
His major books for sportsmen include:
ORIGINAL WORKS
Remembering theGreats: Profiles of Turkey Hunting’s Old Masters (2012)
The Literature of Turkey Hunting: An Annotated Bibliography and Random Musings of a SportingBibliophile (2011)
Fly Fishing in the Great Smoky Mountains
National Park: An Insider’s Guide to A Pursuit of Passion (2009)
Beginner’s Guide to Fly Fishing (2006)
Field to Feast: The Remington Cookbook (with Ann Casada—2006)
Wild Fare and Wise Words (with Ann Casada—2005)
Backyard Grilling (With Ann Casada, Teresa Marrone, and Kate Fiduccia—2005)
Wild Bounty (with Ann Casada—2000)
Innovative Turkey Hunting (2000)
The Ultimate Venison Cookbook (with Ann Casada—1998)
The Complete Venison Cookbook (with Ann Casada—1996)
Modern Fly Fishing (1993)
Also the author of five scholarly works on African explorers, was editor of the bibliographical series of books, “Themes in European Expansion;” editor for the University of Tennessee Press “Outdoor Tennessee” series; and editor of the ongoing “Firearms Classics” series from Palladium Press.
EDITOR AND COMPILER
The Greatest Deer Hunting Book Ever (2018)
The Greatest Quail Book Ever (2016)
Bird Dog Days,Wingshooting Ways: Archibald Rutledge’s Upland Hunting Stories (2016)
Passages (co-edited with Chuck Wechsler—2011)
Carolina Christmas: Archibald Rutledge’s Enduring Holiday Stories (2010)
Classic O’Connor (2010)
Ruark Remembered: By the Man Who Knew Him Best (2006)
The Marksmanship Primer (2004)
The Lost Classics of Jack O’Connor (2004)
Sporting Firearms (An anthology of Horace Kephart’s writings on guns–2004)
Forgotten Tales and Vanished Trails (Theodore Roosevelt’s outdoor and nature
writings—2001)
Team Realtree Turkey Hunting Fieldbook (2001)
Frederick C. Selous: A Hunting Legend (2000)
Bird Dog Days, Wingshooting Ways (1998)
Africa’s Greatest Hunter: The Lost Writings of Frederick C. Selous (1998)
The Lost Classics of Robert Ruark (1996)
America’s Greatest Game Bird: Archibald Rutledge Turkey-Hunting Tales (1994)
The Best of Horatio Bigelow (1994)
Last Casts and Stolen Hunts (co-edited with Chuck Wechsler—1993)
Tales of Whitetails: Archibald Rutledge’s Great Deer-Hunting Stories (1992)
Hunting and Home in the Southern Heartland: The Best of Archibald Rutledge (1992)