The author's interest in preserving the history of the community that he was raised in and providing an insight into the rustic lifestyle of the people living in the Boston Mountain range of the Arkansas Ozarks during the early to mid-1900s sparked his interest in writing this book. Uncle Jesse's One-Eyed Mule is a historical overview of the small rural community of Welcome Home, Arkansas. It is not meant to be strict historical work, but it does contain an accurate account of Welcome Home's most infamous event, the shooting of Preacher Gillam. The work also contains stories passed down from previous generations through oral histories.