James Green sets out to shed light on the history of the labor movement in West Virginia, particularly in the coalfields, but he accomplishes much more than that. What Green does instead - or in addition - is to craft a portrait of the poorest citizens of the poorest state in the years before and then during the Great Depression.
In places, Green's writing affirms long-held stereotypes of the Mountain State. Describing one trial, Green writes, "Deputies traveled deep into the hollows to find potential jurors who were not related to any of the defendants." Nearly every third character is a Hatfield, in one way or another descended from or related to the Hatfields. And the number of guns, amount of liquor, propensity for violence, and preponderance of barefoot brides and babes do not help the state's case. Also, mining is hard and dirty work.
The Devil Is Here in These Hills, though, is much more than a soliloquy on West Virginia. Green has comprehensively compiled the history of the mine wars, and in many ways, the entire Labor Movement. I am embarrassed to admit, but before reading this book, I knew Mother Jones only as left-leaning journalism site; I had not a clue that the real Mother Jones was a fearsome fighter for the union movement for decades, and throughout the country.
The topic is necessarily narrow, and for that reason may appeal to a somewhat limited audience. Those who do decide to read this should not be disappointed, though, for the characters and events both border on the unbelievable and the book (not unlike Ashes Under Water), sheds light on a forgotten and shameful episode in American history.
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