Calling The Kentucky Cycle a “drive by shooting” is a criticism of Schenkkan’s portrayal of Kentucky, its history, its land, and most importantly; its people. Having only been to Kentucky before on a vacation, Schenkkan is criticized as not having enough experience to accurately portray Kentucky. He is seen as an outsider who merely uses his vacation worth of experience and fills the gaps in that with other grossly inaccurate depictions of Appalachia. This is significant because Schenkkan claimed that The Kentucky Cycle is historically accurate. Although, he rescinded the historically accurate statement later on, it can cause audience members or readers to actually believe that The Kentucky Cycle is an accurate, fully researched piece of work. This raises the question; if a wide audience believes that Schenkkan fully researched the history of Kentucky, what else are they assuming? They could believe that the Appalachia stereotypes are true and even if they don’t, they may assume that it is okay to stereotype Appalachians. Schenkkan’s “drive by” works against the work done by Appalachia scholars to reverse the idea that the poverty in Appalachia is a cultural phenomenon. Unfortunately, it is difficult for scholars from Appalachia to stand up to a Pulitzer Prize winning work.