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Something's Rising: Appalachians Fighting Mountaintop Removal
Like an old-fashioned hymn sung in rounds, Something’s Rising gives a stirring voice to the lives, culture, and determination of the people fighting the destructive practice of mountaintop removal in the coalfields of central Appalachia. Each person’s story, unique and unfiltered, articulates the hardship of living in these majestic mountains amid the daily desecration of the land by the coal industry because of America’s insistence on cheap energy.
Developed as an alternative to strip mining, mountaintop removal mining consists of blasting away the tops of mountains, dumping waste into the valleys, and retrieving the exposed coal. This process buries streams, pollutes wells and waterways, and alters fragile ecologies in the region. The people who live, work, and raise families in central Appalachia face not only the physical destruction of their land but also the loss of their culture and health in a society dominated by the consequences of mountaintop removal.
Included here are oral histories from Jean Ritchie, “the mother of folk,” who doesn’t let her eighty-six years slow down her fighting spirit; Judy Bonds, a tough-talking coal-miner’s daughter; Kathy Mattea, the beloved country singer who believes cooperation is the key to winning the battle; Jack Spadaro, the heroic whistle-blower who has risked everything to share his insider knowledge of federal mining agencies; Larry Bush, who doesn’t back down even when speeding coal trucks are used to intimidate him; Denise Giardina, a celebrated writer who ran for governor to bring attention to the issue; and many more. The book features both well-known activists and people rarely in the media. Each oral history is prefaced with a biographical essay that vividly establishes the interview settings and the subjects’ connections to their region.
Written and edited by native sons of the mountains, this compelling book captures a fever-pitch moment in the movement against mountaintop removal. Silas House and Jason Howard are experts on the history of resistance in Appalachia, the legacy of exploitation of the region’s natural resources, and area’s unique culture and landscape. This lyrical and informative text provides a critical perspective on a powerful industry.
The cumulative effect of these stories is stunning and powerful. Something’s Rising will long stand as a testament to the social and ecological consequences of energy at any cost and will be especially welcomed by readers of Appalachian studies, environmental science, and by all who value the mountain’s majesty—our national heritage.
Developed as an alternative to strip mining, mountaintop removal mining consists of blasting away the tops of mountains, dumping waste into the valleys, and retrieving the exposed coal. This process buries streams, pollutes wells and waterways, and alters fragile ecologies in the region. The people who live, work, and raise families in central Appalachia face not only the physical destruction of their land but also the loss of their culture and health in a society dominated by the consequences of mountaintop removal.
Included here are oral histories from Jean Ritchie, “the mother of folk,” who doesn’t let her eighty-six years slow down her fighting spirit; Judy Bonds, a tough-talking coal-miner’s daughter; Kathy Mattea, the beloved country singer who believes cooperation is the key to winning the battle; Jack Spadaro, the heroic whistle-blower who has risked everything to share his insider knowledge of federal mining agencies; Larry Bush, who doesn’t back down even when speeding coal trucks are used to intimidate him; Denise Giardina, a celebrated writer who ran for governor to bring attention to the issue; and many more. The book features both well-known activists and people rarely in the media. Each oral history is prefaced with a biographical essay that vividly establishes the interview settings and the subjects’ connections to their region.
Written and edited by native sons of the mountains, this compelling book captures a fever-pitch moment in the movement against mountaintop removal. Silas House and Jason Howard are experts on the history of resistance in Appalachia, the legacy of exploitation of the region’s natural resources, and area’s unique culture and landscape. This lyrical and informative text provides a critical perspective on a powerful industry.
The cumulative effect of these stories is stunning and powerful. Something’s Rising will long stand as a testament to the social and ecological consequences of energy at any cost and will be especially welcomed by readers of Appalachian studies, environmental science, and by all who value the mountain’s majesty—our national heritage.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published April 17, 2009
35 people are currently reading
955 people want to read
About the author
Silas House
38 books1,587 followersSilas House is the nationally bestselling author of six novels--Clay's Quilt, 2001; A Parchment of Leaves, 2003; The Coal Tattoo, 2005; Eli the Good, 2009; Same Sun Here (co-authored with Neela Vaswani) 2012; Southernmost (2018), as well as a book of creative nonfiction, Something's Rising, co-authored with Jason Howard, 2009; and three plays.
His work frequently appears in The Atlantic, The New York Times, and Salon. He is former commentator for NPR's "All Things Considered". His writing has appeared in recently in Time, Ecotone, Oxford American, Garden and Gun, and many other publications.
House serves on the fiction faculty at the Spalding School of Writing and as the National Endowment for the Humanities Chair at Berea College.
As a music writer House has worked with artists such as Kacey Musgraves, Jason Isbell, Lee Ann Womack, Kris Kristofferson, Lucinda Williams, The Judds, Jim James, and many others.
House is the recipient of three honorary doctorates and is the winner of the Nautilus Award, an EB White Award, the Storylines Prize from the New York Public Library/NAV Foundation, the Appalachian Book of the Year, and many other honors.
His work frequently appears in The Atlantic, The New York Times, and Salon. He is former commentator for NPR's "All Things Considered". His writing has appeared in recently in Time, Ecotone, Oxford American, Garden and Gun, and many other publications.
House serves on the fiction faculty at the Spalding School of Writing and as the National Endowment for the Humanities Chair at Berea College.
As a music writer House has worked with artists such as Kacey Musgraves, Jason Isbell, Lee Ann Womack, Kris Kristofferson, Lucinda Williams, The Judds, Jim James, and many others.
House is the recipient of three honorary doctorates and is the winner of the Nautilus Award, an EB White Award, the Storylines Prize from the New York Public Library/NAV Foundation, the Appalachian Book of the Year, and many other honors.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
August 6, 2009
Completely amazing book. Much like Ann Pancake's Strange As This Weather Has Been (the first book I ever read addressing mountaintop removal), it completely humanizes and makes important an issue which is often ignored or thought of as unimportant. Probably the most compelling of the interviews is with Judy Bonds, who while speaking against MTR also addresses the class issues inherent in why this hasn't become a nationally-known tragedy.
Now, as for full disclosure: while in Kentucky last week I met both authors of Something's Rising, as well as two of the people featured in the book and several other people mentioned in it. At Hindman, opposition to MTR was one of the most-discussed issues, and the few people who didn't know about it were soon educated. While driving, we saw an MTR site in the distance, and it's as ugly as the writers of this book make it sound. (Especially compared to the other mountains' complete beauty.)
In northeast Ohio and northern California (where I currently am), it's the complete opposite, and as I've been finishing this book the past couple of days, I've had to explain exactly what the practice was to a few people, even though according to ilovemountains.org, some of Napa's electricity is generated by mountaintop removal coal (same as Cleveland's).
So if I was committed to ending MTR after reading Pancake's book, I'm even more committed now.
Now, as for full disclosure: while in Kentucky last week I met both authors of Something's Rising, as well as two of the people featured in the book and several other people mentioned in it. At Hindman, opposition to MTR was one of the most-discussed issues, and the few people who didn't know about it were soon educated. While driving, we saw an MTR site in the distance, and it's as ugly as the writers of this book make it sound. (Especially compared to the other mountains' complete beauty.)
In northeast Ohio and northern California (where I currently am), it's the complete opposite, and as I've been finishing this book the past couple of days, I've had to explain exactly what the practice was to a few people, even though according to ilovemountains.org, some of Napa's electricity is generated by mountaintop removal coal (same as Cleveland's).
So if I was committed to ending MTR after reading Pancake's book, I'm even more committed now.
August 3, 2024
Yet another story about our government not only allowing but encouraging powerful companies to do things that make them rich but ruin the lives of the people they claim to be helping.
August 11, 2019
This book is consisted of several self-narration, mostly centering around the mountaintop removal in Applachian regions. The narrators are witness to the destructive effect of coal mining or victims of strip mining explosion. They have to suffer intolerable traumatic experience for many years and they decide to articulate the truth outside the political discourses. Their account of mountaintop removal and the hillbilly's resistance to coalition between government and business constitutes powerful counter-narrative against established historical account of this region.
The storytellers faithfully record how their living circumstance have underwent transformative change and what strategy they took to restore the natural resources. They lay bare how the government disillusioned and disappoint them as enviromental legislation was thwarted in the initial stage, especially those took in-depth exploration of the longtime effect of mountaintop removal. These narrators include ex-miners, activists, professionals, etc., all of whom were raised up in the whereaboutde and developed deep affection for their birthplace. Spadaro is among those who took practical initiative and started an investigation. Although he was frustrated, he was pleased to see the arisen public awareness of the neglected underside of coal industry. A longlasting travail, as he acknowledged in his concluding sentences. A leader and central force in resisting coal mining, Nathan Hall ensures his resolution towards a reconstruction of coal mining in this region. His candor never ceased even if he was stripped of the chance of departing from the mine eternally. The sense of belonging to a place propell him to make a change. Each passage is evocative and compassionate.
The storytellers faithfully record how their living circumstance have underwent transformative change and what strategy they took to restore the natural resources. They lay bare how the government disillusioned and disappoint them as enviromental legislation was thwarted in the initial stage, especially those took in-depth exploration of the longtime effect of mountaintop removal. These narrators include ex-miners, activists, professionals, etc., all of whom were raised up in the whereaboutde and developed deep affection for their birthplace. Spadaro is among those who took practical initiative and started an investigation. Although he was frustrated, he was pleased to see the arisen public awareness of the neglected underside of coal industry. A longlasting travail, as he acknowledged in his concluding sentences. A leader and central force in resisting coal mining, Nathan Hall ensures his resolution towards a reconstruction of coal mining in this region. His candor never ceased even if he was stripped of the chance of departing from the mine eternally. The sense of belonging to a place propell him to make a change. Each passage is evocative and compassionate.
February 24, 2021
This book takes a really interesting approach to storytelling. To put it simply, I felt like I was reading the transcript of a podcast and appreciated this really personal take on a topic that is far removed from most of our everyday lives. It's the story of mountain top removal in Appalachia. It's an excellent read for an academic crowd and for anyone looking for a solid alternative to the offensive and patronizing "Hillbilly Elegy" s of the world.
July 24, 2018
Beautiful, but also hard to read sometimes because of the conditions that made mountain top removal a threat to the people of the Appalachian mountains. Every word of this book is true. There is hope because there are some people who are devoted to the land, yet they must fight the oppressors of Appalachia.
August 31, 2011
I come from the flat land of Michigan so when I flew into Appalachia for the first time, I was taken aback. From the sky, those gentle old mountains looked like elders gently watching over the little valley towns beneath them. In grade school we were told that while the Rockies might provide the more stunning vistas, the Appalachian Mountains dwarf them in age. There’s something there that demands reverence, “respect your elders” and all that, but this imperative has gone blatantly unheeded by the perpetrators of mountaintop removal mining.
Coal mining has a long history in Appalachia, of course, but it’s only since the 1990s that mountaintop removal has become widespread. Somehow coal companies have managed to convince many folks that this sick practice is part of the respectable coal mining traditions of yore when in fact it destroys that legacy. The many local voices speaking out in Something’s Rising: Appalachians Fighting Mountaintop Removal have devoted their lives to combating this myth and the practice of MTR at the risk of social stigmatization and in some cases, physical danger. Though their life circumstances are diverse, they share some surprising commonalities. The one I found most intriguing was the prevalence of a shy personality. These people weren’t born activists; they were forced from their very nature as demure people by circumstance. When loads of toxic mining waste is dumped in local rivers, when boulders removed by excavating machines crush little children while they sleep in their beds, when mountains are blown up before one’s eyes, well, even the shy get audibly livid.
“The canary in the coal mine” is an apt metaphor for what’s happening in Appalachia and in many other parts of the world where the promise of resource wealth never (surprise surprise) manages to cultivate the local economy or well-being. Sure some folks will get jobs and buy new trucks and TVs, but one day they’ll look around and notice that all the shops in town are boarded up and that they get sick when they drink the tap water. Renowned activist Judy Bonds’ blisteringly honest thoughts on the matter leap right off the page.
Every story in this book is heartrending, but I was particularly moved by steadfast witness of folk legend Jean Ritchie and the spotlight on despicable political maneuvering by Jack Spadaro. The voices here have different cadences and histories but the collective picture that emerges is undeniable: the slick promises of dirty fuel corporations should never be trusted, nor, sadly, should the politicians who essentially work for these companies instead of their constituents. Something has certainly risen by the time you finish this book: your own fury.
Coal mining has a long history in Appalachia, of course, but it’s only since the 1990s that mountaintop removal has become widespread. Somehow coal companies have managed to convince many folks that this sick practice is part of the respectable coal mining traditions of yore when in fact it destroys that legacy. The many local voices speaking out in Something’s Rising: Appalachians Fighting Mountaintop Removal have devoted their lives to combating this myth and the practice of MTR at the risk of social stigmatization and in some cases, physical danger. Though their life circumstances are diverse, they share some surprising commonalities. The one I found most intriguing was the prevalence of a shy personality. These people weren’t born activists; they were forced from their very nature as demure people by circumstance. When loads of toxic mining waste is dumped in local rivers, when boulders removed by excavating machines crush little children while they sleep in their beds, when mountains are blown up before one’s eyes, well, even the shy get audibly livid.
“The canary in the coal mine” is an apt metaphor for what’s happening in Appalachia and in many other parts of the world where the promise of resource wealth never (surprise surprise) manages to cultivate the local economy or well-being. Sure some folks will get jobs and buy new trucks and TVs, but one day they’ll look around and notice that all the shops in town are boarded up and that they get sick when they drink the tap water. Renowned activist Judy Bonds’ blisteringly honest thoughts on the matter leap right off the page.
Every story in this book is heartrending, but I was particularly moved by steadfast witness of folk legend Jean Ritchie and the spotlight on despicable political maneuvering by Jack Spadaro. The voices here have different cadences and histories but the collective picture that emerges is undeniable: the slick promises of dirty fuel corporations should never be trusted, nor, sadly, should the politicians who essentially work for these companies instead of their constituents. Something has certainly risen by the time you finish this book: your own fury.
November 21, 2015
I enjoyed this book. The profiles of various environmental activists were true to character and really enlightening. The Appalachian people are smart, resilient, stubborn, proud of their mountain heritage. The complexity of the issue is not lost in the interviews--jobs vs. nature. What's more important in a region marked by poverty, rural drug culture and petty crime? The answers aren't alway a 109% solution. What impressed me most was several connections between the subjects' love of the mountains and their spiritual sense of being caretakers of the land God has blessed us with. The commitment is not simply out of duty. It's a commitment of gratefulness, and also a bit of destiny.
November 22, 2014
Not the best read (parts are quite good though) but you will get an education about mountaintop removal and the coal industry. And it is NOT a pretty picture. Makes you want to immediately find alternative energy sources!
August 7, 2009
I learned that the coal industry has go to be THE dirtiest industry ever known to mankind, and on many different levels (political, criminal, environmental, etc.).
February 28, 2011
Profiles of some incredibly inspiring fighters in the battle to end mountaintop removal mining. If you want to know what's at stake in Appalachia, this is a great place to start.
July 5, 2009
Read my review of Something's Rising here:
http://bobbisbooknook.blogspot.com/2009/05/somethings-rising.html
http://bobbisbooknook.blogspot.com/2009/05/somethings-rising.html
October 2, 2010
What can we do to stop this destruction?
ilovemountains.org
ilovemountains.org
May 4, 2011
an excellent read of up close and personal issues of the people being harmed...
Read
June 14, 2011I've only read a little bit and it's due back at the library. If you don't know about mountain top removal, it's horrible. I like books that have people speaking in their own voice...
December 6, 2014
Educate yourself about this issue and don't believe the lie that you are too small to make a difference - the speakers in this book sure don't.
February 26, 2012
An excellent book which exposes the impact of mountaintop removal in appalachia.
February 14, 2013
Wonderful. One of my favorites
April 24, 2017
Personal stories in heart wrenching detail from the people who live in the Appalachian mountains where mountains are being blown up for coal. This book was written a few years ago, but mountaintop blasting continues despite the decline in the markets for coal. Still very relevant and powerful today.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews