The Devil Is Here in These Hills

West Virginia’s Coal Miners and Their Battle for Freedom

De: James Green

Narrado por: Joel Richards

From before the dawn of the 20th century until the arrival of the New Deal, one of the most protracted and deadly labor struggles in American history was waged in West Virginia. On one side were powerful corporations whose millions bought armed guards and political influence. On the other side were 50,000 mine workers, the nation's largest labor union, and the legendary "miners' angel", Mother Jones. The fight for unionization and civil rights sparked a political crisis verging on civil war that stretched from the creeks and hollows to the courts and the US Senate. In The Devil Is Here in These Hills, celebrated labor historian James Green tells the story of West Virginia and coal like never before.

The value of West Virginia's coalfields had been known for decades, and after rail arrived in the 1870s, industrialists pushed fast into the wilderness, digging mines and building company towns where they wielded nearly complete control over everyday life. The state's high-quality coal drove American expansion and industrialization. But for tens of thousands of laborers, including boys as young as 10, mining life showed the bitter irony of the state motto: "mountaineers are always free". Attempts to unionize were met with stiff resistance. Fundamental rights were bent, then broken, and the violence evolved from bloody skirmishes to open armed conflict as an army of miners marched to an explosive showdown. Extensively researched and told in vibrant detail, The Devil Is Here in These Hills is the definitive book on an essential chapter in the history of American freedom.

©2015 James Green. Recorded by arrangement with Grove Atlantic, Inc. (P)2015 Audible Inc.

great book

loved it kept me going the whole time. lots of hidden history gems. highly recommend

Phenomenal labor history, riveting narrative

If you are looking for an in-depth narrative labor history of the West Virginia mine wars, then look no further. Green’s “The Devil Is Here In These Hills” blends first rate story telling with multifaceted analysis of the land, people, companies, politicians and culture of Appalachian West Virginia. Narrator Joel Richards is first rate. Listened to this audible for hours at a time. Highly recommended.

Solid Historical Account

A very detailed and informative account of West Virginia mining labor history. I appreciated the lack of political axe grinding. It's a historical work and very well done.

A very informative book

“God does not walk in these hills…The devil is here in these hills, and the devil is greed.” - General Charles D. Elliott

As a West Virginian, I will admit I only recently learned about the mine wars. About four years ago my work created an exhibit and presentation about it be mine wars and it was my first exposure to our states labor history. The reason for my ignorance about this topic is that it’s not tough in our West Virginia history classes or in our normal history classes. This is a topic that has been neglected, and continues to be neglected, most likely because companies, especially coal companies, don’t want their workers striking for a better workplace.

This was a very comprehensive and informative book about the decades long fight of West Virginia coal miners. This book started with the early strikes at Cabin Creek in 1912 and continued until 1921 with the Battle of Blair Mountain, and then he covers what happened afterwards. This discusses the working conditions, the housing, the strikes, and the struggle to form a union to change the coal companies. These coal miners were basically enslaved to their coal companies because the coal companies controlled everything in their lives. They had to use company script for pay and all their goods, and it wasn’t transferable to another company. Also it was cash, so couldn’t be used outside a mining town. It sounds like a horrible cycle that workers couldn’t get away from.

Green does a great job at leading the reader from strike to strike and the culmination of their fight on Blair Mountain. It was a very interesting and captivating recount of history that kept me hooked to these people’s individual stories and the overall fight. I am amazed that these miners had to fight for so long and so hard just to get some resolution. They didn’t even get everything they wanted in the end!

The Battle of Blair Mountain was not only the largest labor uprising since the Civil War, it was also the only time that American citizens were subjected to aerial bombardment on their own soil. This battle was intense for how short it was. The battle lasted five days and roughly 10,000 armed coal miners confronted 3,000 lawmen and strikebreakers. About 1 million rounds were fired and the National Guard had to intervene to stop it. This battle was crazy, not only because it was the first time this happened, but also because only a small number of people were killed.

“There is never peace in West Virginia…because there is never justice.” - Mother Jones

The conclusion of Blair Mountain is very surprising for me. Because while the miners might have held off the coal companies on the mountain, they stopped fighting when the National Guard arrived. Also, what is really crazy is that while they fought so hard for change, the coal industry actually won in the end. The UMWA membership plummeted and the idea of a union in West Virginia disappeared, so the coal industry continued their predatory practices.

Now, Blair Mountain is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP), but that also came about after a long battle. The coal companies, mainly Don Blankenship from Massey Energy, fought back and ended up getting the mountain removed from the register shortly after it was added. After a many years' battle, Friends of Blair Mountain and some of the descendants of the miners, was finally able to get it relisted in 2016. I am heartened to learn that this important piece of West Virginia’s history is being preserved and used to teach the history of our state. I am definitely going to try and visit it.

My only real complaint with this book was that it got a bit dense at times on the information dumping to where I struggled to remember how the main story branched off to this topic. This probably wouldn’t be such an issue if you had the physical book, but with an audiobook it doesn’t work. I still feel like I learned a lot from this though.

Overall, this was a fascinating piece of West Virginia history. I learned so much about the history of the state from this book, like the origin of the word Rednecks.

TW: murder and death; coal mining disasters; racism; racist slurs; physical abuse; homelessness; starvation; child death; flooding disaster; imprisonment; war themes; gun violence;

Horrifying

I didn’t know anything about this chapter in american history. I’m shocked and horrified by it. The book was excellent.

A+

Overall great history of the West Virginia coal wars telling what happened from the people that was there.

Great Book!

Fantastic book and narrator. This book does well at highlighting a forgotten and important part of labor history.

excellent

enjoyed the WV history. well researched. learned a ton about WV. well done. well done.

There is more to the story

While the book is meant to steer the reader in a general direction, there is a part of the story that isn't told. When I heard that Booker T. Washington was one of the miners I decided to listen to his book. Booker mentions about how when quite a few of the miners had substantial savings - they would more of less purposefully go on strike. A second mention is that the Socialist Union knew the miner's had some savings and purposely went into the labor camps to drum up support for their cause and subsequently get dues from the miners. Booker felt the miners were no better after a strike than they were before...and somewhat indicates the miners would have been better off continuing to work and keep growing their savings. I would have appreciated the author investigating this perspective.

An Important Historical Book

This book is well written and VERY informative. The only problem I had with it, is that the narrator got so many location and peoples names wrongly pronounced there were too many to count. Otherwise I enjoyed this book.