Jere Cunningham sums up small-town trauma in The Abyss (1984), his apocalyptic novel set in Tennessee coal country. The town of Bethel has shrunk to a dying cluster of cheap bars and trailer parks since all the old mines closed. But now investors are bringing in deep-drilling equipment to reopen an old shaft. Suddenly there are jobs, people are moving back, and the dream of manufacturing’s return is alive again. A few ominous signs appear, but if you’re loyal to Bethel, if you’re the kind of person who belongs there, if you believe in America, then you’re not about to question a good thing. It
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