The Power and the Glory: A Novel of Appalachia

by Grace MacGowan Cooke

Originally published in 1910, 'The Power and the Glory' is a fascinating novel set in turn-of-the-century Appalachia. The page-turner centers on spirited heroine Johnnie Consadine and anticipates many contemporary feminist issues.

Embarrassed by her family's reputation for "borrowing" rather than working, Johnnie leaves her home deep in Appalachia's Unaka Mountains to take a job at a textile mill in Cottonville, Tennessee, a Chattanooga suburb. Here she challenges the unhealthy, dangerous, and brutal conditions faced by women and children laborers, exposes corporate environmental poisoning, stands up to the hypocritical middle-class ladies of the Uplift Club, invents and patents an idea for improving industrial machinery, and proposes a settlement house, utopian mine, and mill village to help women like herself.

A rollicking good read, 'The Power and the Glory' is filled with plot twists and turns that include romance, a lost silver mine, kidnapping, shoot-outs, scheming villains, a wandering chiropractor, and a dramatic automobile chase. The novel's themes of ecological feminism, social activism, gender roles, and class distinctions remain strikingly relevant for modern readers, who will revel in the adventures of a strong, intelligent, funny, and resourceful Appalachian woman.

Genres: Fiction

308 pages, Paperback

First published April 17, 2003

Reviews

[Marcie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the story of a hard working Appalacian gal that leaves home to work in the mill to help her mom and siblings. She has very bad times and some good - which includes driving a car! Her family has a reputation for being the 'borrowing' family. It has a great ending!

[Karen Trostle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to read this book because it was written in 1909 and it’s based in the deep Appalachian mountains.
It was slow compared to what we currently read.. and the characters were predictable. I confess I skipped about 6 chapters. The ending was predictable, but I admit it was exciting and had to be very forward thinking to have been written in 1909.
The characters aren’t far from my mother’s people!

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

First published in 1910, I found this as a Gutenberg Project digital book through my online library source. Yes, it was a page turner. The story was good historical fiction with sometimes quaint dialect and funny dialogue tags. It is long, but very easy to read. I found a picture of the original book cover, a lovely illustration of a girl, maybe Johnnie Consadine, in a long stylish dress walking on a mountain. Original sale price $1.20. I wish I could share the image here. It did not then have the subtitle “A Novel of Appalachia” as it does in the 2003 paperback above.

[Katherine Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wonderful read! While the vernacular takes some getting used to, the plot is engaging and the characters are easy to love. Growing up in Appalachia this reminded me of stories my grandmother used to tell.