Download or read book Plundering Appalachia written by Tom Butler and published by Earth Aware Editions. This book was released on 2009-09-29 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Appalachian mountain range is the oldest in the world and it's disappearing one mountain top at a time. Plundering Appalachia takes a bold look at the out-of-control strip mining in the American heartland and its threat to our environment. The Appalachians are the oldest mountains in the world, and they are literally disappearing. The term “mountaintop removal mining,” coined to describe the coal-mining process currently at work in much of Appalachia, is in reality, exactly what the name suggests: a mountain, formed over millions of years, is decapitated with explosives—the “overburden” scraped into adjacent valleys—and the exposed coal collected. No living thing survives this “removal,” and if the land is replanted, its ecosystem will be nothing like that of the ancient mountaintop it previously held. The process is not only destructive and toxic, but ultimately unsustainable: not one of the four hundred plus mountains blasted has yet grown back. Plundering Appalachia is a collection of photographs and essays presenting the grim realities of mountaintop removal mining: The effects of the blasting on the environment and the people and animals in its wake. The irreversible devastation of the natural landscape of Appalachia. How mountaintop removal is or is not regulated The true costs of the practice over time. Most people in the United States are connected to mountaintop removal in some way. Even if they have never visited the Appalachians, they consume products derived from the mining haul or they are affected by the drastic changes the mining has on their ecosystem. The contributors to Plundering Appalachia clearly wish to empower a nation to action—to get past the rhetoric of the coal industry and see the real Appalachia. It is a plea for a region whose natural beauty deserves to be enjoyed by future generations. Includes essays by: David W. Orr, Vivian Stockman, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Ross Gelbspan, Richard Heinberg, Carl Pope, Denise Giardina, Lisa Evans, Ken Hechler, Jerry Hardt, Wendell Berry and more.

Download or read book Sacred Mountains written by Andrew R. H. Thompson and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on 2015-12-18 with total page 213 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Front cover -- Copyright -- Contents -- Preface -- Introduction -- 1 Downstream Impacts -- 2 Environmental Ethics and the Construction of Values -- 3 Relation, Revelation, and Revolution -- PHOTOGRAPHS -- 4 The Meanings of the Mountains -- 5 All My Holy Mountain -- 6 Loving the Mountains -- Acknowledgments -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index.

Download or read book Night Comes To The Cumberlands A Biography Of A Depressed Area written by Harry M. Claudill and published by Pickle Partners Publishing. This book was released on 2015-11-06 with total page 617 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “At the time it was first published in 1962, it framed such an urgent appeal to the American conscience that it actually prompted the creation of the Appalachian Regional Commission, an agency that has pumped millions of dollars into Appalachia. Caudill’s study begins in the violence of the Indian wars and ends in the economic despair of the 1950s and 1960s. Two hundred years ago, the Cumberland Plateau was a land of great promise. Its deep, twisting valleys contained rich bottomlands. The surrounding mountains were teeming with game and covered with valuable timber. The people who came into this land scratched out a living by farming, hunting, and making all the things they need-including whiskey. The quality of life in Appalachia declined during the Civil War and Appalachia remained “in a bad way” for the next century. By the 1940s, 50s, and 60s, Appalachia had become an island of poverty in a national sea of plenty and prosperity. Caudill’s book alerted the mainstream world to our problems and their causes. Since then the ARC has provided millions of dollars to strengthen the brick and mortar infrastructure of Appalachia and to help us recover from a century of economic problems that had greatly undermined our quality of life.”-Print ed.

Download or read book Religion and Resistance in Appalachia written by Joseph D. Witt and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on 2016-12-09 with total page 295 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the last fifty years, the Appalachian Mountains have suffered permanent and profound change due to the expansion of surface coal mining. The irrevocable devastation caused by this practice has forced local citizens to redefine their identities, their connections to global economic forces, their pasts, and their futures. Religion is a key factor in the fierce debate over mountaintop removal; some argue that it violates a divine mandate to protect the earth, while others contend that coal mining is a God-given gift to ensure human prosperity and comfort. In Religion and Resistance in Appalachia: Faith and the Fight against Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining, Joseph D. Witt examines how religious and environmental ethics foster resistance to mountaintop removal coal mining. Drawing on extensive interviews with activists, teachers, preachers, and community leaders, Witt's research offers a fresh analysis of an important and dynamic topic. His study reflects a diversity of denominational perspectives, exploring Catholic and mainline Protestant views of social and environmental justice, evangelical Christian readings of biblical ethics, and Native and nontraditional spiritual traditions. By placing Appalachian resistance to mountaintop removal in a comparative international context, Witt's work also provides new outlooks on the future of the region and its inhabitants. His timely study enhances, challenges, and advances conversations not only about the region, but also about the relationship between religion and environmental activism.

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 Bringing Down the Mountains written by Shirley Stewart Burns and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Coal is West Virginia's bread and butter. For more than a century, West Virginia has answered the energy call of the nation--and the world--by mining and exporting its coal. In 2004, West Virginia's coal industry provided almost forty thousand jobs directly related to coal, and it contributed $3.5 billion to the state's gross annual product. And in the same year, West Virginia led the nation in coal exports, shipping over 50 million tons of coal to twenty-three countries. Coal has made millionaires of some and paupers of many. For generations of honest, hard-working West Virginians, coal has put food on tables, built homes, and sent students to college. But coal has also maimed, debilitated, and killed. Bringing Down the Mountains provides insight into how mountaintop removal has affected the people and the land of southern West Virginia. It examines the mechanization of the mining industry and the power relationships between coal interests, politicians, and the average citizen. Shirley Stewart Burns holds a BS in news-editorial journalism, a master's degree in social work, and a PhD in history with an Appalachian focus, from West Virginia University. A native of Wyoming County in the southern West Virginia coalfields and the daughter of an underground coal miner, she has a passionate interest in the communities, environment, and histories of the southern West Virginia coalfields. She lives in Charleston, West Virginia.

Download or read book Gothic Appalachian Literature written by Sarah Robertson and published by Anthem Press. This book was released on 2024-10-01 with total page 71 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Gothic Appalachian Literature examines the ways contemporary Appalachian authors utilize gothic tropes to explore the complex history and contemporary problems of the region, particularly in terms of their representation of economic and environmental concerns. It argues that across Appalachian fiction, the plight of characters to save their homes, land and way of life from the destructive forces of extractive industries brings sharply to bare the histories of colonization and slavery that problematize questions of belonging, ownership and possession. Robertson extensively considers contemporary manifestations of the gothic in Appalachian literature, arguing that gothic tropes abound in fiction that focuses on the impacts of extractive industries that connect this micro-region with other parts of the Global North and Global South where the devastating impacts of extractive industries are also experienced socially, economically and environmentally.

Download or read book Our Appalachia written by Laurel Shackelford and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on 2014-10-17 with total page 410 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Many books have been written about Appalachia, but few have voiced its concerns with the warmth and directness of this one. From hundreds of interviews gathered by the Appalachian Oral History Project, editors Laurel Shackelford and Bill Weinberg have woven a rich verbal tapestry that portrays the people and the region in all their variety. The words on the page have the ring of truth, for these are the people of Appalachia speaking for themselves. Here they recollect an earlier time of isolation but of independence and neighborliness. For a nearer time they tell of the great changes that took place in Appalachia with the growth of coal mining and railroads and the disruption of old ways. Persisting through the years and sounding clearly in the interviews are the dignity of the Appalachian people and their close ties with the land, despite the exploitation and change they have endured. When first published, Our Appalachia was widely praised. This new edition again makes available an authentic source of social history for all those with an interest in the region.

Download or read book An Appalachian School in Coal Country written by Terry Huffman and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2019-08-20 with total page 159 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An Appalachian School in Coal Country examines the struggles and triumphs of an elementary school in one of the poorest counties in the United States. Despite economic crisis in the county, Creekside Elementary School is achieving unprecedented academic success. This study explores the objectives, goals, and challenges of the educators of Creekside Elementary and the ways in which they are able to serve the needs of their students and community. Creekside is a microcosm of the changes occurring in the Appalachian region itself, and this book examines how one elementary school is able to succeed despite all odds and how others like it can achieve similar results as well.

Download or read book Appalachia written by and published by . This book was released on 1995 with total page 516 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Dictionary of Southern Appalachian English written by Michael B. Montgomery and published by UNC Press Books. This book was released on 2021-06-22 with total page 3218 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Dictionary of Southern Appalachian English is a revised and expanded edition of the Weatherford Award–winning Dictionary of Smoky Mountain English, published in 2005 and known in Appalachian studies circles as the most comprehensive reference work dedicated to Appalachian vernacular and linguistic practice. Editors Michael B. Montgomery and Jennifer K. N. Heinmiller document the variety of English used in parts of eight states, ranging from West Virginia to Georgia—an expansion of the first edition's geography, which was limited primarily to North Carolina and Tennessee—and include over 10,000 entries drawn from over 2,200 sources. The entries include approximately 35,000 citations to provide the reader with historical context, meaning, and usage. Around 1,600 of those examples are from letters written by Civil War soldiers and their family members, and another 4,000 are taken from regional oral history recordings. Decades in the making, the Dictionary of Southern Appalachian English surpasses the original by thousands of entries. There is no work of this magnitude available that so completely illustrates the rich language of the Smoky Mountains and Southern Appalachia.

Download or read book Soul Full of Coal Dust written by Chris Hamby and published by Little, Brown. This book was released on 2020-08-18 with total page 456 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In a devastating and urgent work of investigative journalism, Pulitzer Prize winner Chris Hamby uncovers the tragic resurgence of black lung disease in Appalachia, its Big Coal cover-up, and the resilient mining communities who refuse to back down. Decades ago, a grassroots uprising forced Congress to enact long-overdue legislation designed to virtually eradicate black lung disease and provide fair compensation to coal miners stricken with the illness. Today, however, both promises remain unfulfilled. Levels of disease have surged, the old scourge has taken an aggressive new form, and ailing miners and widows have been left behind by a dizzying legal system, denied even modest payments and medical care. In this devastating and urgent work of investigative journalism, Pulitzer Prize winner Chris Hamby traces the unforgettable story of how these trends converge in the lives of two men: Gary Fox, a black lung-stricken West Virginia coal miner determined to raise his family from poverty, and John Cline, an idealistic carpenter and rural medical clinic worker who becomes a lawyer in his fifties. Opposing them are the lawyers at the coal industry’s go-to law firm; well-credentialed doctors who often weigh in for the defense, including a group of radiologists at Johns Hopkins; and Gary’s former employer, Massey Energy, the region’s largest coal company, run by a cantankerous CEO often portrayed in the media as a dark lord of the coalfields. On the line in Gary and John’s longshot legal battle are fundamental principles of fairness and justice, with consequences for miners and their loved ones throughout the nation. Taking readers inside courtrooms, hospitals, homes tucked in Appalachian hollows, and dusty mine tunnels, Hamby exposes how coal companies have not only continually flouted a law meant to protect miners from deadly amounts of dust but also enlisted well-credentialed doctors and lawyers to help systematically deny much-needed benefits to miners. The result is a legal and medical thriller that brilliantly illuminates how a band of laborers — aided by a small group of lawyers, doctors and lay advocates, often working out of their homes or in rural clinics and tiny offices – challenged one of the world's most powerful forces, Big Coal, and won. A deeply troubling yet ultimately triumphant work, Soul Full of Coal Dust is a necessary and timely book about injustice and resistance.

Download or read book Onearth written by and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 556 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Redemption Mountain written by Gerry FitzGerald and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2013-06-25 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this emotional debut, a New York executive, restless in his success, is sent to West Virginia where a small-town girl and her son open his eyes to a richer life than he could have imagined.

Download or read book Albion s Seed written by David Hackett Fischer and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 1991-03-14 with total page 981 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This fascinating book is the first volume in a projected cultural history of the United States, from the earliest English settlements to our own time. It is a history of American folkways as they have changed through time, and it argues a thesis about the importance for the United States of having been British in its cultural origins. While most people in the United States today have no British ancestors, they have assimilated regional cultures which were created by British colonists, even while preserving ethnic identities at the same time. In this sense, nearly all Americans are "Albion's Seed," no matter what their ethnicity may be. The concluding section of this remarkable book explores the ways that regional cultures have continued to dominate national politics from 1789 to 1988, and still help to shape attitudes toward education, government, gender, and violence, on which differences between American regions are greater than between European nations.

Download or read book The Changing World Religion Map written by Stanley D. Brunn and published by Springer. This book was released on 2015-02-03 with total page 3858 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This extensive work explores the changing world of religions, faiths and practices. It discusses a broad range of issues and phenomena that are related to religion, including nature, ethics, secularization, gender and identity. Broadening the context, it studies the interrelation between religion and other fields, including education, business, economics and law. The book presents a vast array of examples to illustrate the changes that have taken place and have led to a new world map of religions. Beginning with an introduction of the concept of the “changing world religion map”, the book first focuses on nature, ethics and the environment. It examines humankind’s eternal search for the sacred, and discusses the emergence of “green” religion as a theme that cuts across many faiths. Next, the book turns to the theme of the pilgrimage, illustrated by many examples from all parts of the world. In its discussion of the interrelation between religion and education, it looks at the role of missionary movements. It explains the relationship between religion, business, economics and law by means of a discussion of legal and moral frameworks, and the financial and business issues of religious organizations. The next part of the book explores the many “new faces” that are part of the religious landscape and culture of the Global North (Europe, Russia, Australia and New Zealand, the U.S. and Canada) and the Global South (Latin America, Africa and Asia). It does so by looking at specific population movements, diasporas, and the impact of globalization. The volume next turns to secularization as both a phenomenon occurring in the Global religious North, and as an emerging and distinguishing feature in the metropolitan, cosmopolitan and gateway cities and regions in the Global South. The final part of the book explores the changing world of religion in regards to gender and identity issues, the political/religious nexus, and the new worlds associated with the virtual technologies and visual media.

Download or read book The Secret Wisdom of the Earth written by Christopher Scotton and published by Grand Central Publishing. This book was released on 2015-01-06 with total page 406 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "A marvelous debut...has everything a big, thick novel should have, and I hated to put it down." -- John Grisham "A page-turner." -- New York Times Book Review For readers of The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, this is a dramatic and deeply moving novel about an act of violence in a small Appalachian town and the repercussions that will forever change a young man's view of human cruelty and compassion. After seeing the death of his younger brother in a terrible home accident, fourteen-year-old Kevin and his grieving mother are sent for the summer to live with Kevin's grandfather. In this town of Medgar, Kentucky, a peeled-paint coal town deep in Appalachia, Kevin quickly falls in with a half-wild hollow kid named Buzzy Fink who schools him in the mysteries and magnificence of the woods. The town is beset by a massive mountaintop removal operation that is blowing up the hills and back filling the hollows. Kevin's grandfather and others in town attempt to rally the citizens against the "company" and its powerful owner to stop the plunder of their mountain heritage. But when Buzzy witnesses a brutal hate crime, a sequence is set in play that will test Buzzy and Kevin to their absolute limits in an epic struggle for survival in the Kentucky mountains.