The Devil Is Here in These Hills

The Devil Is Here in These Hills

Author: James Green

Publisher: Open Road + Grove/Atlantic

Published: 2015-02-03

Total Pages: 447

ISBN-13: 0802192092

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“The most comprehensive and comprehendible history of the West Virginia Coal War I’ve ever read.” —John Sayles, writer and director of Matewan On September 1, 1912, the largest, most protracted, and deadliest working-class uprising in American history was waged in West Virginia. On one side were powerful corporations whose millions bought armed guards and political influence. On the other side were fifty thousand mine workers, the nation’s largest labor union, and the legendary “miners’ angel,” Mother Jones. The fight for unionization and civil rights sparked a political crisis that verged on civil war, stretching from the creeks and hollows of the Appalachians to the US Senate. Attempts to unionize were met with stiff resistance. Fundamental rights were bent—then broken. The violence evolved from bloody skirmishes to open armed conflict, as an army of more than fifty thousand miners finally marched to an explosive showdown. Extensively researched and vividly told, this definitive book about an often-overlooked chapter of American history, “gives this backwoods struggle between capital and labor the due it deserves. [Green] tells a dark, often despairing story from a century ago that rings true today” (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette).


Book Synopsis The Devil Is Here in These Hills by : James Green

Download or read book The Devil Is Here in These Hills written by James Green and published by Open Road + Grove/Atlantic. This book was released on 2015-02-03 with total page 447 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “The most comprehensive and comprehendible history of the West Virginia Coal War I’ve ever read.” —John Sayles, writer and director of Matewan On September 1, 1912, the largest, most protracted, and deadliest working-class uprising in American history was waged in West Virginia. On one side were powerful corporations whose millions bought armed guards and political influence. On the other side were fifty thousand mine workers, the nation’s largest labor union, and the legendary “miners’ angel,” Mother Jones. The fight for unionization and civil rights sparked a political crisis that verged on civil war, stretching from the creeks and hollows of the Appalachians to the US Senate. Attempts to unionize were met with stiff resistance. Fundamental rights were bent—then broken. The violence evolved from bloody skirmishes to open armed conflict, as an army of more than fifty thousand miners finally marched to an explosive showdown. Extensively researched and vividly told, this definitive book about an often-overlooked chapter of American history, “gives this backwoods struggle between capital and labor the due it deserves. [Green] tells a dark, often despairing story from a century ago that rings true today” (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette).


The Goldenseal Book of the West Virginia Mine Wars

The Goldenseal Book of the West Virginia Mine Wars

Author: Ken Sullivan

Publisher:

Published: 1991

Total Pages: 116

ISBN-13:

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Book Synopsis The Goldenseal Book of the West Virginia Mine Wars by : Ken Sullivan

Download or read book The Goldenseal Book of the West Virginia Mine Wars written by Ken Sullivan and published by . This book was released on 1991 with total page 116 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:


Gun Thugs, Rednecks, and Radicals

Gun Thugs, Rednecks, and Radicals

Author: David Alan Corbin

Publisher: Pm Press

Published: 2011

Total Pages: 275

ISBN-13: 9781604864526

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A sobering account on the human cost of a landmark industrial conflict retraces the West Virginia coal mining rebellions of the early 20th century as culled from articles, speeches, union transcripts and Senate committee testimonies by miners and their families. Original.


Book Synopsis Gun Thugs, Rednecks, and Radicals by : David Alan Corbin

Download or read book Gun Thugs, Rednecks, and Radicals written by David Alan Corbin and published by Pm Press. This book was released on 2011 with total page 275 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A sobering account on the human cost of a landmark industrial conflict retraces the West Virginia coal mining rebellions of the early 20th century as culled from articles, speeches, union transcripts and Senate committee testimonies by miners and their families. Original.


Thunder In the Mountains

Thunder In the Mountains

Author: Lon Savage

Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Pre

Published: 1985-06-15

Total Pages: 333

ISBN-13: 0822971429

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The West Virginia mine war of 1920-21, a major civil insurrection of unusual brutality on both sides, even by the standards of the coal fields, involved thousands of union and nonunion miners, state and private police, militia, and federal troops. Before it was over, three West Virginia counties were in open rebellion, much of the state was under military rule, and bombers of the U.S. Army Air Corps had been dispatched against striking miners.The origins of this civil war were in the Draconian rule of the coal companies over the fiercely proud miners of Appalachia. It began in the small railroad town of Matewan when Mayor C. C. Testerman and Police Chief Sid Hatfield sided with striking miners against agents of the Baldwin-Felts Detective Agency, who attempted to evict the miners from company-owned housing. During a street battle, Mayor Testerman, seven Baldwin-Felts agents, and two miners were shot to death.Hatfield became a folk hero to Appalachia. But he, like Testerman, was to be a martyr. The next summer, Baldwin-Felts agents assassinated him and his best friend, Ed Chambers, as their wives watched, on the steps of the courthouse in Welch, accelerating the miners' rebellion into open warfare.Much neglected in historical accounts, Thunder in the Mountains is the only available book-length account of the crisis in American industrial relations and governance that occured during the West Virginia mine war of 1920-21.


Book Synopsis Thunder In the Mountains by : Lon Savage

Download or read book Thunder In the Mountains written by Lon Savage and published by University of Pittsburgh Pre. This book was released on 1985-06-15 with total page 333 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The West Virginia mine war of 1920-21, a major civil insurrection of unusual brutality on both sides, even by the standards of the coal fields, involved thousands of union and nonunion miners, state and private police, militia, and federal troops. Before it was over, three West Virginia counties were in open rebellion, much of the state was under military rule, and bombers of the U.S. Army Air Corps had been dispatched against striking miners.The origins of this civil war were in the Draconian rule of the coal companies over the fiercely proud miners of Appalachia. It began in the small railroad town of Matewan when Mayor C. C. Testerman and Police Chief Sid Hatfield sided with striking miners against agents of the Baldwin-Felts Detective Agency, who attempted to evict the miners from company-owned housing. During a street battle, Mayor Testerman, seven Baldwin-Felts agents, and two miners were shot to death.Hatfield became a folk hero to Appalachia. But he, like Testerman, was to be a martyr. The next summer, Baldwin-Felts agents assassinated him and his best friend, Ed Chambers, as their wives watched, on the steps of the courthouse in Welch, accelerating the miners' rebellion into open warfare.Much neglected in historical accounts, Thunder in the Mountains is the only available book-length account of the crisis in American industrial relations and governance that occured during the West Virginia mine war of 1920-21.


The Road to Blair Mountain

The Road to Blair Mountain

Author: Charles B. Keeney

Publisher:

Published: 2021

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781949199840

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"Keeney delivers a riveting and propulsive story about a nine-year battle to save sacred ground that was the site of the largest labor uprising in American history. . . . He unveils a powerful playbook on successful activism that will inspire countless others for generations to come." --Eric Eyre, Pulitzer Prize winner and author of Death in Mud Lick: A Coal Country Fight against the Drug Companies That Delivered the Opioid Epidemic In 1921 Blair Mountain in southern West Virginia was the site of the country's bloodiest armed insurrection since the Civil War, a battle pitting miners led by Frank Keeney against agents of the coal barons intent on quashing organized labor. It was the largest labor uprising in US history. Ninety years later, the site became embroiled in a second struggle, as activists came together to fight the coal industry, state government, and the military- industrial complex in a successful effort to save the battlefield--sometimes dubbed "labor's Gettysburg"--from destruction by mountaintop removal mining. The Road to Blair Mountain is the moving and sometimes harrowing story of Charles Keeney's fight to save this irreplaceable landscape. Beginning in 2011, Keeney--a historian and great-grandson of Frank Keeney--led a nine-year legal battle to secure the site's placement on the National Register of Historic Places. His book tells a David-and-Goliath tale worthy of its own place in West Virginia history. A success story for historic preservation and environmentalism, it serves as an example of how rural, grassroots organizations can defeat the fossil fuel industry.


Book Synopsis The Road to Blair Mountain by : Charles B. Keeney

Download or read book The Road to Blair Mountain written by Charles B. Keeney and published by . This book was released on 2021 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Keeney delivers a riveting and propulsive story about a nine-year battle to save sacred ground that was the site of the largest labor uprising in American history. . . . He unveils a powerful playbook on successful activism that will inspire countless others for generations to come." --Eric Eyre, Pulitzer Prize winner and author of Death in Mud Lick: A Coal Country Fight against the Drug Companies That Delivered the Opioid Epidemic In 1921 Blair Mountain in southern West Virginia was the site of the country's bloodiest armed insurrection since the Civil War, a battle pitting miners led by Frank Keeney against agents of the coal barons intent on quashing organized labor. It was the largest labor uprising in US history. Ninety years later, the site became embroiled in a second struggle, as activists came together to fight the coal industry, state government, and the military- industrial complex in a successful effort to save the battlefield--sometimes dubbed "labor's Gettysburg"--from destruction by mountaintop removal mining. The Road to Blair Mountain is the moving and sometimes harrowing story of Charles Keeney's fight to save this irreplaceable landscape. Beginning in 2011, Keeney--a historian and great-grandson of Frank Keeney--led a nine-year legal battle to secure the site's placement on the National Register of Historic Places. His book tells a David-and-Goliath tale worthy of its own place in West Virginia history. A success story for historic preservation and environmentalism, it serves as an example of how rural, grassroots organizations can defeat the fossil fuel industry.


On Dark and Bloody Ground

On Dark and Bloody Ground

Author: Anne T. Lawrence

Publisher:

Published: 2021

Total Pages: 176

ISBN-13: 9781952271083

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"Oral histories with participants in and observers of the Battle of Blair Mountain and other Appalachian mine wars of the 1920s and 1930s, supplemented with introductory material, maps, and photographs"--


Book Synopsis On Dark and Bloody Ground by : Anne T. Lawrence

Download or read book On Dark and Bloody Ground written by Anne T. Lawrence and published by . This book was released on 2021 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Oral histories with participants in and observers of the Battle of Blair Mountain and other Appalachian mine wars of the 1920s and 1930s, supplemented with introductory material, maps, and photographs"--


Bloodletting in Appalachia

Bloodletting in Appalachia

Author: Howard Burton Lee

Publisher: West Virginia University Press

Published: 1969

Total Pages: 238

ISBN-13:

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Book Synopsis Bloodletting in Appalachia by : Howard Burton Lee

Download or read book Bloodletting in Appalachia written by Howard Burton Lee and published by West Virginia University Press. This book was released on 1969 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:


Digging Our Own Graves

Digging Our Own Graves

Author: Barbara Ellen Smith

Publisher: Haymarket Books

Published: 2020-10-06

Total Pages: 323

ISBN-13: 1642593931

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Employment and production in the Appalachian coal industry have plummeted over recent decades. But the lethal black lung disease, once thought to be near-eliminated, affects miners at rates never before recorded. Digging Our Own Graves sets this epidemic in the context of the brutal assault, begun in the 1980s and continued since, on the United Mine Workers of America and the collective power of rank-and-file coal miners in the heart of the Appalachian coalfields. This destruction of militancy and working class power reveals the unacknowledged social and political roots of a health crisis that is still barely acknowledged by the state and coal industry. Barbara Ellen Smith’s essential study, now with an updated introduction and conclusion, charts the struggles of miners and their families from the birth of the Black Lung Movement in 1968 to the present-day importance of demands for environmental justice through proposals like the Green New Deal. Through extensive interviews with participants and her own experiences as an activist, the author provides a vivid portrait of communities struggling for survival against the corporate extraction of labor, mineral wealth, and the very breath of those it sends to dig their own graves.


Book Synopsis Digging Our Own Graves by : Barbara Ellen Smith

Download or read book Digging Our Own Graves written by Barbara Ellen Smith and published by Haymarket Books. This book was released on 2020-10-06 with total page 323 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Employment and production in the Appalachian coal industry have plummeted over recent decades. But the lethal black lung disease, once thought to be near-eliminated, affects miners at rates never before recorded. Digging Our Own Graves sets this epidemic in the context of the brutal assault, begun in the 1980s and continued since, on the United Mine Workers of America and the collective power of rank-and-file coal miners in the heart of the Appalachian coalfields. This destruction of militancy and working class power reveals the unacknowledged social and political roots of a health crisis that is still barely acknowledged by the state and coal industry. Barbara Ellen Smith’s essential study, now with an updated introduction and conclusion, charts the struggles of miners and their families from the birth of the Black Lung Movement in 1968 to the present-day importance of demands for environmental justice through proposals like the Green New Deal. Through extensive interviews with participants and her own experiences as an activist, the author provides a vivid portrait of communities struggling for survival against the corporate extraction of labor, mineral wealth, and the very breath of those it sends to dig their own graves.


The West Virginia Mine Wars

The West Virginia Mine Wars

Author: David Corbin

Publisher:

Published: 1991

Total Pages: 214

ISBN-13:

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Book Synopsis The West Virginia Mine Wars by : David Corbin

Download or read book The West Virginia Mine Wars written by David Corbin and published by . This book was released on 1991 with total page 214 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:


Matewan Before the Massacre

Matewan Before the Massacre

Author: Rebecca J. Bailey

Publisher:

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 308

ISBN-13:

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On May 19, 1920, gunshots rang through the streets of Matewan, West Virginia, in an event soon known as the "Matewan Massacre." Most historians of West Virginia and Appalachia see this event as the beginning of a long series of tribulations known as the second Mine Wars. But was it instead the culmination of an even longer series of proceedings that unfolded in Mingo County, dating back at least to the Civil War? Matewan Before the Massacre provides the first comprehensive history of the area, beginning in the late eighteenth century continuing up to the Massacre. It covers the relevant economic history, including the development of the coal mine industry and the struggles over land ownership; labor history, including early efforts of unionization; transportation history, including the role of the N&W Railroad; political history, including the role of political factions in the county's two major communities--Matewan and Williamson; and the impact of the state's governors and legislatures on Mingo County.


Book Synopsis Matewan Before the Massacre by : Rebecca J. Bailey

Download or read book Matewan Before the Massacre written by Rebecca J. Bailey and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On May 19, 1920, gunshots rang through the streets of Matewan, West Virginia, in an event soon known as the "Matewan Massacre." Most historians of West Virginia and Appalachia see this event as the beginning of a long series of tribulations known as the second Mine Wars. But was it instead the culmination of an even longer series of proceedings that unfolded in Mingo County, dating back at least to the Civil War? Matewan Before the Massacre provides the first comprehensive history of the area, beginning in the late eighteenth century continuing up to the Massacre. It covers the relevant economic history, including the development of the coal mine industry and the struggles over land ownership; labor history, including early efforts of unionization; transportation history, including the role of the N&W Railroad; political history, including the role of political factions in the county's two major communities--Matewan and Williamson; and the impact of the state's governors and legislatures on Mingo County.