Download or read book Fighting Back in Appalachia written by Stephen Fisher and published by Temple University Press. This book was released on 2009 with total page 382 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Citizen resistance and struggle in Appalachia since 1960.
Download or read book Back Talk from Appalachia written by Dwight B. Billings and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on 2013-07-24 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Appalachia has long been stereotyped as a region of feuds, moonshine stills, mine wars, environmental destruction, joblessness, and hopelessness. Robert Schenkkan's 1992 Pulitzer-Prize winning play The Kentucky Cycle once again adopted these stereotypes, recasting the American myth as a story of repeated failure and poverty--the failure of the American spirit and the poverty of the American soul. Dismayed by national critics' lack of attention to the negative depictions of mountain people in the play, a group of Appalachian scholars rallied against the stereotypical representations of the region's people. In Back Talk from Appalachia, these writers talk back to the American mainstream, confronting head-on those who view their home region one-dimensionally. The essays, written by historians, literary scholars, sociologists, creative writers, and activists, provide a variety of responses. Some examine the sources of Appalachian mythology in nineteenth- and early twentieth-century literature. Others reveal personal experiences and examples of grassroots activism that confound and contradict accepted images of ""hillbillies."" The volume ends with a series of critiques aimed directly at The Kentucky Cycle and similar contemporary works that highlight the sociological, political, and cultural assumptions about Appalachia fueling today's false stereotypes.
Download or read book Our Roots Run Deep as Ironweed written by Shannon Elizabeth Bell and published by University of Illinois Press. This book was released on 2013-10-30 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Motivated by a deeply rooted sense of place and community, Appalachian women have long fought against the damaging effects of industrialization. In this collection of interviews, sociologist Shannon Elizabeth Bell presents the voices of twelve Central Appalachian women, environmental justice activists fighting against mountaintop removal mining and its devastating effects on public health, regional ecology, and community well-being. Each woman narrates her own personal story of injustice and tells how that experience led her to activism. The interviews--many of them illustrated by the women's "photostories"--describe obstacles, losses, and tragedies. But they also tell of new communities and personal transformations catalyzed through activism. Bell supplements each narrative with careful notes that aid the reader while amplifying the power and flow of the activists' stories. Bell's analysis outlines the relationship between Appalachian women's activism and the gendered responsibilities they feel within their families and communities. Ultimately, Bell argues that these women draw upon a broader "protector identity" that both encompasses and extends the identity of motherhood that has often been associated with grassroots women's activism. As protectors, the women challenge dominant Appalachian gender expectations and guard not only their families but also their homeplaces, their communities, their heritage, and the endangered mountains that surround them. 30% of the proceeds from the sale of this book will be donated to organizations fighting for environmental justice in Central Appalachia.
Download or read book Appalachian Reckoning written by Anthony Harkins and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Hillbilly elegy, J.D. Vance described how his family moved from poverty to an upwardly mobile clan while navigating the collective demons of the past. The book has come to define Appalachia for much of the nation. This collection of essays is a retort, at turns rigorous, critical, angry, and hopeful, to the long shadow cast over the region and its imagining. But it also moves beyond Vance's book to allow Appalachians to tell their own diverse and complex stories of a place that is at once culturally rich and economically distressed, unique and typically American. -- adapted from back cover
Download or read book Something s Rising written by Silas House and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on 2009-04-17 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Like an old-fashioned hymn sung in rounds, Something's Rising gives a stirring voice to the lives, culture, and determination of the people fighting the destructive practice of mountaintop removal in the coalfields of central Appalachia. Each person's story, unique and unfiltered, articulates the hardship of living in these majestic mountains amid the daily desecration of the land by the coal industry because of America's insistence on cheap energy. 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 in the region. The people who live, work, and raise families in central Appalachia face not only the physical destruction of their land but also the loss of their culture and health in a society dominated by the consequences of mountaintop removal. 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. The book features both well-known activists and people rarely in the media. Each oral history is prefaced with a biographical essay that vividly establishes the interview settings and the subjects' connections to their region. Written and edited by native sons of the mountains, this compelling book captures a fever-pitch moment in the movement against mountaintop removal. Silas House and Jason Howard are experts on the history of resistance in Appalachia, the legacy of exploitation of the region's natural resources, and area's unique culture and landscape. This lyrical and informative text provides a critical perspective on a powerful industry. The cumulative effect of these stories is stunning and powerful. Something's Rising will long stand as a testament to the social and ecological consequences of energy at any cost and will be especially welcomed by readers of Appalachian studies, environmental science, and by all who value the mountain's majesty—our national heritage.
Download or read book What You Are Getting Wrong About Appalachia written by Elizabeth Catte and published by Arcadia Publishing. This book was released on 2018-02-06 with total page 151 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 2016, headlines declared Appalachia ground zero for America's "forgotten tribe" of white working class voters. Journalists flocked to the region to extract sympathetic profiles of families devastated by poverty, abandoned by establishment politics, and eager to consume cheap campaign promises. What You Are Getting Wrong About Appalachia is a frank assessment of America's recent fascination with the people and problems of the region. The book analyzes trends in contemporary writing on Appalachia, presents a brief history of Appalachia with an eye toward unpacking Appalachian stereotypes, and provides examples of writing, art, and policy created by Appalachians as opposed to for Appalachians. The book offers a must-needed insider's perspective on the region.
Download or read book Among the King s Soldiers Spirit of Appalachia Book 3 written by Gilbert Morris and published by Baker Books. This book was released on 1998-10-01 with total page 329 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: • From bestselling author Gilbert Morris and writing partner Aaron McCarver, a colorful historical fiction series that features renowned characters such as Andrew Jackson, Daniel Boone, and Davy Crockett. • Chronicles the story of the settlers of America's first frontier--the lands over the Appalachian Mountains--and of the faith that carried them through the harshest of times. In Among the King's Soldiers, Sarah MacNeal is struggling with the death of Philip Baxter. Her stepbrother, Jacob Spencer, escorts her and her friend Amanda Taylor back across the mountains to Williamsburg to visit Jacob's grandparents. Here Jacob becomes embroiled in a struggle that finally forces him to decide his loyalty between the British and the patriots, and between the two women who have touched his heart. Meanwhile, Sarah has met a Scottish highlander, Seth Donovan, who is fighting for the British. She has closed her heart to love but finds it very difficult to not become drawn to him. And Seth is struggling with his loyalty to the British crown and a deep longing for the freedom he sees in her life. When they return to the frontier, they find that the war has reached there. In the Battle of King's Mountain, loyalties and love will finally be proven.
Download or read book Degrees of Elevation written by Charles Dodd White and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 183 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 16 stories of Appalachia today by some of our top writers. This collection brings us into the present with its struggles and beauty. Human character remains strong in these stories of life in Appalachia. Writers include: Rusty Barnes, Sheldon Lee Compton, Jarrid Deaton, Richard Hague, Silas House, Chris Holbrook, Denton Loving, Mindy Beth Miller, John McManus, Jim Nichols, Valerie Nieman, Chris Offutt, Mark Powell, Ron Rash, Alex Taylor, Crystal Wilkinson
Download or read book Fighting King Coal written by Shannon Elizabeth Bell and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2016-03-25 with total page 341 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Contextualizing the Case : Central Appalachia --Micro-Level Processes and Social Movement Participation -- The Depletion of Social Capital in Coalfield Communities -- Identity and Environmental Justice Movement Participation -- Cognitive Liberation and Coal Industry Ideology -- Cognitive Liberation and Hidden Destruction in Central Appalachia -- Photovoice in Five Coalfield Communities -- Becoming, and Un-Becoming, an Activist.
Download or read book Writing Appalachia written by Katherine Ledford and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on 2020-03-17 with total page 842 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Despite the stereotypes and misconceptions surrounding Appalachia, the region has nurtured and inspired some of the nation's finest writers. Featuring dozens of authors born into or adopted by the region over the past two centuries, Writing Appalachia showcases for the first time the nuances and contradictions that place Appalachia at the heart of American history. This comprehensive anthology covers an exceedingly diverse range of subjects, genres, and time periods, beginning with early Native American oral traditions and concluding with twenty-first-century writers such as Wendell Berry, bell hooks, Silas House, Barbara Kingsolver, and Frank X Walker. Slave narratives, local color writing, folklore, work songs, modernist prose—each piece explores unique Appalachian struggles, questions, and values. The collection also celebrates the significant contributions of women, people of color, and members of the LGBTQ community to the region's history and culture. Alongside Southern and Central Appalachian voices, the anthology features northern authors and selections that reflect the urban characteristics of the region. As one text gives way to the next, a more complete picture of Appalachia emerges—a landscape of contrasting visions and possibilities.
Download or read book Ramp Hollow written by Steven Stoll and published by Hill and Wang. This book was released on 2017-11-21 with total page 432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How the United States underdeveloped Appalachia Appalachia—among the most storied and yet least understood regions in America—has long been associated with poverty and backwardness. But how did this image arise and what exactly does it mean? In Ramp Hollow, Steven Stoll launches an original investigation into the history of Appalachia and its place in U.S. history, with a special emphasis on how generations of its inhabitants lived, worked, survived, and depended on natural resources held in common. Ramp Hollow traces the rise of the Appalachian homestead and how its self-sufficiency resisted dependence on money and the industrial society arising elsewhere in the United States—until, beginning in the nineteenth century, extractive industries kicked off a “scramble for Appalachia” that left struggling homesteaders dispossessed of their land. As the men disappeared into coal mines and timber camps, and their families moved into shantytowns or deeper into the mountains, the commons of Appalachia were, in effect, enclosed, and the fate of the region was sealed. Ramp Hollow takes a provocative look at Appalachia, and the workings of dispossession around the world, by upending our notions about progress and development. Stoll ranges widely from literature to history to economics in order to expose a devastating process whose repercussions we still feel today.
Download or read book Sowing Seeds in the Mountains written by Richard A. Couto and published by . This book was released on 1994 with total page 362 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book A History of Appalachia written by Richard B. Drake and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on 2003-09-01 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Richard Drake has skillfully woven together the various strands of the Appalachian experience into a sweeping whole. Touching upon folk traditions, health care, the environment, higher education, the role of blacks and women, and much more, Drake offers a compelling social history of a unique American region. The Appalachian region, extending from Alabama in the South up to the Allegheny highlands of Pennsylvania, has historically been characterized by its largely rural populations, rich natural resources that have fueled industry in other parts of the country, and the strong and wild, undeveloped land. The rugged geography of the region allowed Native American societies, especially the Cherokee, to flourish. Early white settlers tended to favor a self-sufficient approach to farming, contrary to the land grabbing and plantation building going on elsewhere in the South. The growth of a market economy and competition from other agricultural areas of the country sparked an economic decline of the region's rural population at least as early as 1830. The Civil War and the sometimes hostile legislation of Reconstruction made life even more difficult for rural Appalachians. Recent history of the region is marked by the corporate exploitation of resources. Regional oil, gas, and coal had attracted some industry even before the Civil War, but the postwar years saw an immense expansion of American industry, nearly all of which relied heavily on Appalachian fossil fuels, particularly coal. What was initially a boon to the region eventually brought financial disaster to many mountain people as unsafe working conditions and strip mining ravaged the land and its inhabitants. A History of Appalachia also examines pockets of urbanization in Appalachia. Chemical, textile, and other industries have encouraged the development of urban areas. At the same time, radio, television, and the internet provide residents direct links to cultures from all over the world. The author looks at the process of urbanization as it belies commonly held notions about the region's rural character.
Download or read book Engaging Appalachia written by Rebecca Adkins Fletcher and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on 2023-03-07 with total page 255 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Inclusive campus-community collaborations provide critical opportunities to build community capacity—defined as a community's ability to jointly respond to challenges and opportunities—and sustainability. Through case studies from across all three subregions of Appalachia from Georgia to Pennsylvania, Engaging Appalachia: A Guidebook for Building Capacity and Sustainability offers diverse perspectives and guidance for promoting social change through campus-community relationships from faculty, community members, and student contributors. This volume explores strategies for creating more inclusive and sustainable partnerships through the arts, humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. In representing diverse areas, environments, and issues, three relatable themes emerge within a practice viewpoint that is scalable to communities beyond Appalachia: fostering student leadership, asset-building, and needs fulfillment within community engagement. Engaging Appalachia presents collaborative approaches to regional community engagement and offers important lessons in place-based methods for achieving sustainable and just development. Written with practicality in mind, this guidebook embraces hard-earned experiences from decades of work in Appalachia and sets forth new models for building community resilience in a changing world.
Download or read book Fighting King Coal written by Shannon Elizabeth Bell and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2016-03-18 with total page 341 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An examination of why so few people suffering from environmental hazards and pollution choose to participate in environmental justice movements. In the coal-mining region of Central Appalachia, mountaintop-removal mining and coal-industry-related flooding, water contamination, and illness have led to the emergence of a grassroots, women-driven environmental justice movement. But the number of local activists is small relative to the affected population, and recruiting movement participants from within the region is an ongoing challenge. In Fighting King Coal, Shannon Elizabeth Bell examines an understudied puzzle within social movement theory: why so few of the many people who suffer from industry-produced environmental hazards and pollution rise up to participate in social movements aimed at bringing about social justice and industry accountability. Using the coal-mining region of Central Appalachia as a case study, Bell investigates the challenges of micromobilization through in-depth interviews, participant observation, content analysis, geospatial viewshed analysis, and an eight-month “Photovoice” project—an innovative means of studying, in real time, the social dynamics affecting activist involvement in the region. Although the Photovoice participants took striking photographs and wrote movingly about the environmental destruction caused by coal production, only a few became activists. Bell reveals the importance of local identities to the success or failure of local recruitment efforts in social movement struggles, ultimately arguing that, if the local identities of environmental justice movements are lost, the movements may also lose their power.
Download or read book Mud Creek Medicine written by Kiran Bhatraju and published by Butler Books. This book was released on 2013 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "From deep in the mountains of Appalachia to the steps of Capitol Hill, Mud Creek Medicine chronicles the life of an iconoclastic woman with a resolute spirit to help her people. Eula Hall, born into abject poverty in Greasy Creek, Kentucky, found herself -- through sheer determination and will -- at the center of a century-long struggle to lift up a part of America that is too often forgotten. Through countless interviews and meticulous research, Kiran Bhatraju, a native of Eastern Kentucky, deftly traces Eula's life from impoverished hired girl to community activist. Eula served as a foot soldier in the War on Poverty, President Lyndon B. Johnson's noble attempt to change the trajectory of a timeless people. That work sparked her determination to follow her own brand of tough-love, bootstrapped compassion for a lifetime. Eula's story shows how one woman could make a difference through a clear-eyed understanding of the nexus between politics, wealth, labor, and disease. Mud Creek Medicine takes the reader through Eula's experiences with moonshining, labor strikes, and fighting against severe domestic abuse, to eventually building and managing her clinic"-- From dust jacket flap.
Download or read book Raisin Cane in Appalachia written by David Osborne and published by Trafford Publishing. This book was released on 2013-04-24 with total page 575 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Author David Osborne has brought to life the difficult experiences and carefree joys of growing up in Appalachia. The family consisted of thirteen children plus Mom and Dad, and they lived on the old home place that the family referred to simply as The Holler. The children worked tirelessly alongside their father, Steve, and mother, Thelma, to coaxor perhaps forcea living from the hills and the small amount of level land that they called a farm. We all had full-time, yearlong jobs, Osborne remembers. The kinds of work that we did often varied from season to season, but the work itself was always there. Osbornes ancestors, having come from Southwest Virginia through Pike County, Kentucky, and settling in Southern Ohio, always lived a difficult life. There was hunting and fishing, hog killing, cane grinding, and plowing the rocky land to raise a garden. His grandfather was always full of hair-raising stories and tall tales that would curl your toes. He knew that all his ancestors were not thoroughbreds, and he also knew that some could have been considered nags, so he knew that the tall tales were not far from the truth. Life was not always about work because above all, there were the children and their attempts to have fun. Through their relentless efforts by the rambunctious, irrepressible, and in many cases, irresponsible children to amuse themselves, they played as hard as they worked. They survived in spite of everything life could throw against them. These were simpler times when the family grew up. There were no phones or television sets in the house. They had no electricity or running water, therefore making the outhouse a significant part of their lives. Those that grew up during this time will remember and may linger a moment to compare their lives with the events and situations in this book. Some may tend to look back fondly at the memories, but just keep in mind that there were many memories that we all would just as soon forget
