Something's Rising

Appalachians Fighting Mountaintop Removal

Silas House, Jason Howard

• Publisher: The University Press of Kentucky
• Year: 2009
• Topic: History
• eBook ISBN:
  9780813139043
• Subtopic: North American History
• Index: History

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.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Foreword
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Jean Ritchie: The Preservationist
• Denise Giardina: Mother Jones’s Great-Granddaughter
• Bev May: Little Acts of Greatness
• Carl Shoupe: Union Made
• Kathy Mattea: A Light in the Dark
• Judy Bonds: The Endangered Hillbilly
• Pat Hudson: Called to Action
• Jack Spadaro: Appalachian Patriot
• Nathan Hall: A Leader, Not a Follower
• Anne Shelby and Jessie Lynne Keltner: Holy Ground
• Larry Bush: The Gathering Storm
• Appendix A: Text of the Petition Letter Circulated by Coal Companies against the Stream Saver Bill
• Appendix B: House Bill 164, the Stream Saver Bill, as Introduced in February 2008
• Notes
• Selected Bibliography
• About the Authors
• Index