Fighting back in Appalachia : traditions of resistance and change /

Both scholarly and popular literature on Appalachia have tended to focus on environmental, economic, or political issues that portray the region's residents as a collective of victims at the mercy of external socioeconomic forces, e.g., coal companies, second home developers. This collection of 16 essays represents an effort to rethink and reconstruct how the people in the region have attempted to resist external influence and control. Organizing questions include: What factors have led to the success or failure of efforts to control and direct change within the region? How have race, class, gender, and culture shaped resistance? Examples from personal narratives are interwoven with formal social-science analysis, and, in some cases, cast within a contemporary theoretical perspective. Although some issues can be resolved and resistance may fade, others seem intractable--strip mining, for example--and require sustained effort. Single-issue organizations are usually short-lived. Successful long-term resistance requires transregional multi-issue coalitions that are able to move beyond the stage of an activist staff to incorporate broad grass-roots interest. Topically organized bibliography and a directory of resistance organizations. Recommended for libraries with Appalachian holdings. Advanced undergraduate; graduate; faculty. K. B. Raitz; University of Kentucky

This is a powerful compilation of 16 essays examining various groups within the Appalachian region who fought for change in their communities. The essays provide an historical overview of events and strategies arising from citizen resistance to human and environmental exploitation. Frequently portrayed as passive victims, the people of the Appalachian Mountains emerge from this study as courageous activists. Many of the contributors to this volume were participants in the organizations they describe, providing first-hand accounts of the groups' efforts. Extensive footnotes and a bibliography make this a valuable contribution to the literature of social activism. For academic and regional collections.-- Eloise Hitchcock, Tennessee Technological Univ. Lib., Cookeville (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.