A native of the mountains of North Carolina and author of the memoir, Hillbilly Odyssey.


C. L. (Cecil) Willis, a native of Canton, North Carolina, is professor emeritus of sociology and criminology at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. After retiring, he moved back to his beloved Southern Appalachian mountains. He lives with his daughter, son-in-law, and two grandchildren in Alexander outside Asheville, NC. Hillbilly Odyssey is his first book.


I am a native of the North Carolina mountains who left these hills years ago to pursue a career in academia. Over the years I have come to better appreciate my heritage as I reflected on my life growing up in a small mountain mill town in Canton, North Carolina. The resilience, self-reliance, and indomitable spirit of my family and my hometown flies in the face of the tired old stereotypes of Appalachian people so prevalent in popular culture. My memoir is my answer to these distorted views of my people and homeland.