Something's Rising (eBook)

Appalachians Fighting Mountaintop Removal

Silas House, Jason Howard (Autoren)

eBook Download: EPUB

2009
320 Seiten
The University Press of Kentucky (Verlag)
978-0-8131-3904-3 (ISBN)

Infos

Something's Rising collects oral histories from a diverse group of individuals from Kentucky, West Virginia, Tennessee, and Virginia who are fighting mountaintop removal, an ecologically devastating form of coal mining. Taken together, these voices stand as a testament of what it means to be an Appalachian and demonstrate the value of preserving a culture's history and spirit through the stories of its people. The authors have chosen twelve unique voices including Jean Ritchie, the "mother of folk," who doesn't let her eighty-six years slow down her fighting spirit; Judy Bonds, a tough-talking coal miner's daughter; Kathy Mattea, the beloved country singer who believes that cooperation is the key to the battle; Larry Bush, who doesn't back down even when speeding coal trucks are used to intimidate him; and Denise Giardina, the West Virginia writer who ran for governor to bring attention to the mountaintop removal issue. Written and edited by native sons of the mountains, these riveting, personal stories are captured in an original and highly readable book.

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Two Appalachian authors record personal stories of local resistance against the coal industry in this “revelatory work . . . oral history at its best” (Studs Terkel).   Developed as an alternative to strip mining, mountaintop removal mining consists of blasting away the tops of mountains, dumping waste into the valleys, and retrieving the exposed coal. This process buries streams, pollutes wells and waterways, and alters fragile ecologies—all of which has a devastating impact on local communities.  Something's Rising gives a stirring voice to the lives, culture, and determination of the people fighting this destructive practice in the coalfields of central Appalachia. The people who live, work, and raise families here face not only the destruction of their land but also the loss of their culture and health. Each person's story, unique and unfiltered, is prefaced with a biographical essay that vividly establishes the interview settings and the subjects' connections to their region.   Included here are oral histories from Jean Ritchie, "the mother of folk," who doesn't let her eighty-six years slow down her fighting spirit; Judy Bonds, a tough-talking coal-miner's daughter; Kathy Mattea, the beloved country singer who believes cooperation is the key to winning the battle; Jack Spadaro, the heroic whistle-blower who has risked everything to share his insider knowledge of federal mining agencies; Larry Bush, who doesn't back down even when speeding coal trucks are used to intimidate him; Denise Giardina, a celebrated writer who ran for governor to bring attention to the issue; and many more.

Autor

lt;P>Silas House is a bestselling novelist of Clay's Quilt, A Parchment of Leaves, and The Coal Tattoo, whose nonfiction has been published in Newsday, Sierra, The Oxford American, No Depression, and elsewhere. In 2008 he won the Helen Lewis Award for Community Service for his efforts in the fight against mountaintop removal. He teaches at Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, Tennessee. Jason Howard is the editor of We All Live Downstream and has written for such publications as Equal Justice Magazine, Paste, Kentucky Living, The Louisville Review, and many others. He is a graduate of the George Washington University and lives in Eastern Kentucky, where he was born and raised.

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 30.6.2009
• Vorwort: Lee Smith
• Verlagsort: Lexington
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Geschichte ► Allgemeine Geschichte ► Zeitgeschichte
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Regional- / Ländergeschichte
• Themenwelt: Geschichte ► Teilgebiete der Geschichte ► Kulturgeschichte
• Themenwelt: Naturwissenschaften ► Biologie ► Ökologie / Naturschutz
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Politik / Verwaltung
• Themenwelt: Technik ► Bergbau
• Schlagworte: American mining towns • Appalachia • Appalachian culture • appalachian heritage • Central Appalachia • coal barons • coal country • Coal Mining • eastern kentucky • Ecology • environmental catastrophe • Environmental history • hollers • Jean Ritchey • Kentucky • King Coal • land destruction • mountaintop removal • mountaintop removal coal mining • MTR • national energy policy • oral histories • way of life • West Virgina
• ISBN-10: 0-8131-3904-X / 081313904X
• ISBN-13: 978-0-8131-3904-3 / 9780813139043