Miners, Millhands, and Mountaineers: Industrialization of the Appalachian South, 1880-1930

by Ronald D. Eller

Book by Eller, Ronald D.

Genres: History, Labor, Nonfiction, American History

298 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1982

About the author

Originally from southern West Virginia, Ron Eller has spent more than forty years writing and teaching about the Appala­chian region. A descendent of eight generations of families from Appalachia, Dr. Eller served for 15 years as the Director of the University of Kentucky Appalachian Center where he coordi­nated research and service programs on a wide range of Appalachian policy issues including education, health care, economic develop­ment, civic leadership and the environment. Currently Distinguished Professor of History at UK, Dr. Eller is in demand as a speaker on Appalachian issues at colleges, conferences, and community forums throughout the nation, and he serves as a frequent consultant to civic organizations and the national media. A former Rockefeller Foundation Scholar, he holds the Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and is widely known as a scholar of Appalachian history and the study of rural economic development and social change. He has published more than sixty articles and reports but is most well known for his award-winning book Miners, Mill­hands and Mountaineers: The Industrialization of the Appalachian South, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 1983. He has served as Chairman of the Governor’s Kentucky Appalachian Task Force, the first Chairman of the Kentucky Appalachian Commission and as a member of the Sustainable Communities Task Force of President Clinton’s Council on Sustainable Development. Among other awards, he is the recipient of the Jim Wayne Miller Award for Distinguished Service to Appalachia, two East Kentucky Leadership Foundation Special Awards (1999 and 2009), and the University of Kentucky William E. Lyons Award for Outstanding Public Service. He has worked on projects in rural education reform with the Ford Foundation, the American Council on Education, and the American Association of Community Colleges and has served as the John D. Whisman Visiting Scholar for the Appalachian Regional Commission in Washington. Dr. Eller’s most recent book is Uneven Ground: Appalachia Since 1945, published by the University Press of Kentucky in 2008 and winner of the 2008 Willis D. Weatherford Award for the best publication about Appalachia by the Appalachian Studies Association and the 2009 V.O. Key Award for the best book on Southern Politics by the Southern Political Science Association. The book examines the impact of government programs and economic development on Appalachia since World War II.

Reviews

[Geoffrey Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eller's Marxist interpretation of the industrialization of Appalachia is strongest is on its most fundamental thesis: that Appalachia is not a static place that time forgot but the result of active social and economic streams of development. But I'm a bit more skeptical that Appalachia was a sort of pre-industrial, pastoral place of bliss before the late 19th century. Recommended with this caveat.

[Matthew Chisholm · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I was doing my research for important books to include on my students' reading lists for my History of Southern Appalachia course, this monograph was a consistent presence on most syllabi posted online. I was a little hesitant given that it was published in 1982, and I thought that it may be a bit too outdated to actually register a true picture of the Appalachia of today. Though it may be at times a bit too revisionist and borders on a polemic (by perhaps over-victimizing Appalachians), it truly is an amazing condemnation of the effects of industrialization in a third-worldesque extractive economy that just happens to be in America's backyard. The attention paid to both quantitative data as well as culture strikes a credible and eloquent balance. The reader gets a sense of the material significance of mines and mills as well as their ubiquitousness, but also of the individual plight of the mining community and cultural destruction of the mountaineer agrarian foundation. This work was essential in unequivocally dismissing stereotypes of those "strange people from a peculiar land," but also errs at times away from the recognition that hundreds of thousands of mountaineers were completely fine with this transition and willingly gave up their old ways of life to improve their stations.

[Amanda Opelt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eye opening look at the industrialization of Appalachia. This book helped explain the context for the history of my own family, their migration from an Appalachian farm to the coal mines and back again. A bit granular in certain chapters, but I really appreciated the cultural analysis.

[liza · Rating 5 out of 5]

Growing up in Appalachia, I enjoyed reading this and learned a lot about where I’m from, and it is by far my favorite between this and Uneven Ground. The history of Appalachia should be a much-studied topic for those living there and for those who are curious, and this is a great book to start with.