By James GreenĪugust 31 marks the anniversary of the largest civil insurrection in U.S. ISBN: 9780802123312 | Atlantic Monthly Press The Battle of Blair Mountainĭescription by the author of one of the key events, the Battle of Blair Mountain, featured in the book. The Devil Is Here in These Hills is extensively researched and told in vibrant detail. 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. The state’s high-quality coal drove American expansion and industrialization, but for tens of thousands of laborers, including boys as young as ten, mining life showed the bitter irony of the state motto, “Mountaineers are Always Free.” Attempts to unionize were met with stiff resistance. 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.
In The Devil Is Here in These Hills: West Virginia’s Coal Miners and Their Battle for Freedom, historian James Green tells the labor history of West Virginia coal miners. 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. On the other side were 50,000 mine workers, the nation’s largest labor union, and the legendary “miners’ angel,” Mother Jones. On one side were powerful corporations whose millions bought armed guards and political influence. 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 U.S. history was waged in West Virginia.
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