Something's Rising: Appalachians Fighting Mountaintop Removal

[close] Novelist Silas House and journalist Jason Howard, both "children of Appalachia," illuminate the long-growing mining crisis in Central Appalachia. Twelve Appalachians--among them a college student, former union organizers, community activists and the octogenarian "mother of folk," Jean Ritchey--provide first-hand accounts of a disappearing way of life, a vital ecology in rapid decline, an industry that refuses to take responsibility for the devastation it causes (blowing the tops off mountains is only the latest, most destructive technique), and a nation too hooked on cheap energy to help. If nothing else, these oral histories will give readers a sense of what's at stake on a personal level. Student Nathan Hall calls mining the best job he ever had: "I met the most interesting characters of my life... the most hilarious, most good hearted." Says Judy Bond, lifelong resident of the leading coal-producing county in W.V., "The more coal we mine, the poorer we get."