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Lost Mountain
A new form of strip mining has caused a state of emergency for the Appalachian wilderness and the communities that depend on it-a crisis compounded by issues of government neglect, corporate hubris, and class conflict. In this powerful call to arms, Erik Reece chronicles the year he spent witnessing the systematic decimation of a single mountain and offers a landmark defense of a national treasure threatened with extinction.
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First published January 1, 2006
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 89 reviews
December 1, 2014
I loved this book! In a single, yearlong case study, Reece follows the obliteration of aptly named Lost Mountain due to strip mining, studying its impact on local communities, businesses and ecosystems. He presents two separate sides of this method of coal extraction. He stimulates a conversation between both the locals who have been devastated by this mining method, and those who thrive off of its economic value. However, it is my opinion that in the conclusion of his book, Lost Mountain, Reece is truly presenting a call to action against this mining; he asks the reader to think beyond selfish gains and to stop the demolition of a system with some of the greatest biodiversity in North America. I find his argument very persuasive, as his clever weaving of hard facts, relatable stories and poetic language were incredibly engaging. I would recommend it to any students currently studying science at a high school or college level, or to any reader who wants to learn more about coal mining and its effects on the environment. You'll walk away from this book fired up to change the world!
March 13, 2010
Mountains are being destroyed in Eastern Kentucky.... leveled into "pasturelands"??? Grasslands where the tops of mountains once were?? Woodland species are losing their habitat, people are being posioned by contaminated water supply, homes and lives are being destroyed by the "spoil" coming off the mountain, and overweight coal trucks driven by sleep deprived truckers on narrow mountain roads present a constant threat to residents driving these roads. It is easy to ignore all this when you don't live there. It is easy to forget that our electrical grid is powere by coal. It is easy to forget that our demand for cheap electricity is at the heart of this issue. if we think beyond our momentary needs, we have to ask ouselves, is it worth it? It takes very little time to destroy mountains and woodlands that have taking eons to develop. Once they are gone, they are gone.
July 18, 2015
"Coal is cheap because it is extracted with the least concern for the land that offers it up." (p. 178)
I live in the Appalachian foothills of Ohio. My great-grandfather mined coal on and off for much of his teens and twenties, often on his hands and knees in an underground shaft (he was usually too tall to stand at 6'6"). His family, including my grandmother, lived in company towns that conspired to keep their people poor and dependent. To this day, if you live in my home county, you must have mine insurance, because if your house is built over a mining shaft, sinkholes can develop unexpectedly (this happened to one of my professors in college). In 1995, a twelve foot section of Interstate 70, a major interstate, collapsed in the county next to mine because of mine subsidence (google "Interstate 70 collapse Ohio 1995"), which took months and millions of dollars to repair.
But that kind of mining is a whole different beast, something that many people don't seem to understand (or don't care to). As bad as it could be, underground mining did supply jobs - often poorly paid and dangerous - and wreaked less environmental damage than strip mining.
Strip mining, unfortunately, I've seen as well. I've seen the Big Muskie (now no longer in operation). I've helped "reclaim" old strip mining swaths by planting trees provided by AEP, who did most of the strip mining in my area. AEP, I must say, treated us better than those in Kentucky and West Virginia are often treated (by companies other than AEP). One large strip mined area was turned into an African wildlife preserve (no, seriously - The Wilds in Muskingum County, Ohio) that generates tourist dollars. But I can show you creeks that run orange and wells that went bad (including some on relatives' properties) because strip mining allowed chemicals to leach into the water. And we are the "lucky" ones because, as I said, AEP treated us fair in the clean up.
Strip mining is reckless, dangerous, and stupid. It takes entire mountains and levels them to the ground. It puts fill in hollows. It poisons rivers, streams, and wells. It kills wildlife. It destroys topsoil. It ruins houses and communities. It creates potential disasters just waiting to be unleashed on the people downstream. And all in the name of cheap energy.
Strip mining isn't cheap. Oh, sure, the operation itself is. The companies come in, take all the coal, usually claim bankruptcy in the end so they don't have to reclaim the land, and leave giant swathes of dirt in their paths where mountains once stood. Even if they do "reclaim" the land, it's usually just a "pasture" where not much will grow because the soil is so poor and rocky.
People say - but what about the jobs? Yeah, what about the jobs? Strip mining requires few employees, and almost none of them are local. If you think strip mining is employing hundreds of local people who wouldn't have jobs otherwise, you have no idea what is going on in the mountains.
"[T]he poverty rate in eastern Kentucky is exactly the same as when [Robert] Kennedy came [in 1968], jobs are almost as scarce, and the environmental destruction from strip mining is exponentially worse." (p. 181)
And if you think that EPA protects anything or anyone besides the coal companies, you also have no idea what is going on in the mountains. The EPA and the coal companies go hand in hand; the EPA is often run by people who were formerly in the coal business. Think about that one for a while.
"[I]n the end, the natural world does not need conserving. The planet has survived five extinctions; it can survive another one. No, it is we who need conserving." (p. 95)
It's true, and honestly, that thought gives me some comfort. Humanity will likely kill itself with pollution and environmental damage, but we did it to ourselves. Mammals may not survive; most of the species we see now may not survive, and for that I am sad. But the earth itself will survive our carnage; it's got billions of years left before the sun swallows us whole.
"Who is destroying the mountains of eastern Kentucky and West Virginia?...It isn't the coal companies. It's us...You did this. Okay, forget the guilt. How can we change that?" (p. 154)
Well, reading this book would be a good start.
I live in the Appalachian foothills of Ohio. My great-grandfather mined coal on and off for much of his teens and twenties, often on his hands and knees in an underground shaft (he was usually too tall to stand at 6'6"). His family, including my grandmother, lived in company towns that conspired to keep their people poor and dependent. To this day, if you live in my home county, you must have mine insurance, because if your house is built over a mining shaft, sinkholes can develop unexpectedly (this happened to one of my professors in college). In 1995, a twelve foot section of Interstate 70, a major interstate, collapsed in the county next to mine because of mine subsidence (google "Interstate 70 collapse Ohio 1995"), which took months and millions of dollars to repair.
But that kind of mining is a whole different beast, something that many people don't seem to understand (or don't care to). As bad as it could be, underground mining did supply jobs - often poorly paid and dangerous - and wreaked less environmental damage than strip mining.
Strip mining, unfortunately, I've seen as well. I've seen the Big Muskie (now no longer in operation). I've helped "reclaim" old strip mining swaths by planting trees provided by AEP, who did most of the strip mining in my area. AEP, I must say, treated us better than those in Kentucky and West Virginia are often treated (by companies other than AEP). One large strip mined area was turned into an African wildlife preserve (no, seriously - The Wilds in Muskingum County, Ohio) that generates tourist dollars. But I can show you creeks that run orange and wells that went bad (including some on relatives' properties) because strip mining allowed chemicals to leach into the water. And we are the "lucky" ones because, as I said, AEP treated us fair in the clean up.
Strip mining is reckless, dangerous, and stupid. It takes entire mountains and levels them to the ground. It puts fill in hollows. It poisons rivers, streams, and wells. It kills wildlife. It destroys topsoil. It ruins houses and communities. It creates potential disasters just waiting to be unleashed on the people downstream. And all in the name of cheap energy.
Strip mining isn't cheap. Oh, sure, the operation itself is. The companies come in, take all the coal, usually claim bankruptcy in the end so they don't have to reclaim the land, and leave giant swathes of dirt in their paths where mountains once stood. Even if they do "reclaim" the land, it's usually just a "pasture" where not much will grow because the soil is so poor and rocky.
People say - but what about the jobs? Yeah, what about the jobs? Strip mining requires few employees, and almost none of them are local. If you think strip mining is employing hundreds of local people who wouldn't have jobs otherwise, you have no idea what is going on in the mountains.
"[T]he poverty rate in eastern Kentucky is exactly the same as when [Robert] Kennedy came [in 1968], jobs are almost as scarce, and the environmental destruction from strip mining is exponentially worse." (p. 181)
And if you think that EPA protects anything or anyone besides the coal companies, you also have no idea what is going on in the mountains. The EPA and the coal companies go hand in hand; the EPA is often run by people who were formerly in the coal business. Think about that one for a while.
"[I]n the end, the natural world does not need conserving. The planet has survived five extinctions; it can survive another one. No, it is we who need conserving." (p. 95)
It's true, and honestly, that thought gives me some comfort. Humanity will likely kill itself with pollution and environmental damage, but we did it to ourselves. Mammals may not survive; most of the species we see now may not survive, and for that I am sad. But the earth itself will survive our carnage; it's got billions of years left before the sun swallows us whole.
"Who is destroying the mountains of eastern Kentucky and West Virginia?...It isn't the coal companies. It's us...You did this. Okay, forget the guilt. How can we change that?" (p. 154)
Well, reading this book would be a good start.
June 25, 2009
Please read this. It will really school you on a pressing, unaddressed issue that affects us all. It had me crying in the public library.
October 16, 2009
I have researched both sides, ... and I still give this book five stars. I am so tired of the lame argument that we must still see "coal as our future," until another method can be found. Other methods HAVE been found, but there is so much criminal money tied up in the coal industry, and so many misled goops still rallying behind the coal bosses, that no one with the wherewithal to do so is doing ANYTHING to promote other energy sources.
It was enough, for me, that most of the men on the in-laws side of my family died of black lung. But after reading the chapter about the Huntley-Brinkley road, I do not know how coal bosses, truck drivers, former governors, or any of the other crooks responsible for this can sleep at night, nor how they live with themselves, nor what they plan to say when they face God some day.
I thank you, Erik Reece, for this masterful book. I envy your students. I pray this book moves someone, changes something, anything, for the better
It was enough, for me, that most of the men on the in-laws side of my family died of black lung. But after reading the chapter about the Huntley-Brinkley road, I do not know how coal bosses, truck drivers, former governors, or any of the other crooks responsible for this can sleep at night, nor how they live with themselves, nor what they plan to say when they face God some day.
I thank you, Erik Reece, for this masterful book. I envy your students. I pray this book moves someone, changes something, anything, for the better
March 25, 2018
A well documented chronicle of the destruction of an American mountain- for coal.
Highly recommended for those wondering what is happening to Appalachia at present.
Highly recommended for those wondering what is happening to Appalachia at present.
January 2, 2025
4.5 stars. A heartbreaking look at how we routinely bring natural perfection built over millennia to its knees in a matter of months in our pursuit of cheap energy. Well written and researched. I wouldn't put so much stock in Harry Caudill anymore, but the book is 20 years old and the field of Appalachian Studies has grown significantly since then. Half point deduction because it goes a bit off the rails into spiritual philosophy in the conclusion in a way that felt unproductive.
December 14, 2018
Absolutely riveting. For those interested in the damage being done by mountaintop removal mining, this is a must-read. Vivid detail and heartbreaking descriptions of what happens when coal companies blow the tops off mountains. It really shows clearly the lie that is 'clean coal.'
February 18, 2023
I’ve never wanted to annotate a book before this one. It’s depressing how little has changed since 2006.
July 15, 2008
Despite this book's tone (casual) and length (short), it was packed with science, statistics, and stories. Reece seemed to be going for some sort of nature essays, but what he ended up with was solid journalism and a very readable, informative book. I wish there was an index, because I've found myself referring back to his research. I really enjoyed this.
October 7, 2008
Outstanding book. Shocking on many levels. Shows the devestation of mountain top removal in the search for coal. This book opens the door into the world of strip mining and the devestation it causes to the enviorment and people who live near it. It is sad how we continue to destroy americas rainforest in the search for cheap energy. Highly recommend this book.
December 29, 2009
AAAAGHHH!!! How is it possible that something like this can happen???? This is a must read for those who care about the environment and where their energy comes from.
The author chronicles the disappearance of a mountain during the course of his investigation. CLEAN COAL MY #$@!
The author chronicles the disappearance of a mountain during the course of his investigation. CLEAN COAL MY #$@!
September 16, 2009
A revealing look at the horrors of mountain top removal mining.
March 28, 2010
This book is an extremely insightful and well written account of the terrible effects of strip mining. Taught me a lot and I would recommend this to anyone who isn't close minded or fucking stupid.
October 10, 2018
The book focuses on mountaintop removal in eastern Kentucky. I found it heartbreaking. Anyone who uses electricity should read this book to know what devastation is done to the Earth to give them that electricity.
The book reminds me of a couple of songs. The first is "Paradise" by John Fogerty:
When I was a child my family would travel
Down to Western Kentucky where my parents were born
There's a backwards old town that's often remembered
So many times that my memories are worn.
And daddy, won't you take me back to Muhlenberg County
Down by the Green River where Paradise lay?
Well, I'm sorry, my son, but you're too late in asking
Mr. Peabody's coal train has hauled it away.
Well, sometimes we'd travel right down the Green River
To the abandoned old prison down by Adrie Hill
Where the air smelled like snakes and we'd shoot with our pistols
But empty pop bottles was all we would kill.
And daddy, won't you take me back to Muhlenberg County
Down by the Green River where Paradise lay?
Well, I'm sorry, my son, but you're too late in asking
Mr. Peabody's coal train has hauled it away.
Hey!
Then the coal company came with the world's largest shovel
And they tortured the timber and stripped all the land
Well, they dug for their coal till the land was forsaken
Then they wrote it all down as the progress of man.
And daddy, won't you take me back to Muhlenberg County
Down by the Green River where Paradise lay?
Well, I'm sorry, my son, but you're too late in asking
Mr. Peabody's coal train has hauled it away.
When I die, let my ashes float down the Green River
Let my soul roll on up to the Rochester dam
I'll be halfway to Heaven with Paradise waitin'
Just five miles away from wherever I am.
And daddy, won't you take me back to Muhlenberg County
Down by the Green River where Paradise lay?
Well, I'm sorry, my son, but you're too late in asking
Mr. Peabody's coal train has hauled it away.
The second is "Last Resort" by the Eagles:
She came from Providence,
the one in Rhode Island
Where the old world shadows hang
heavy in the air
She packed her hopes and dreams
like a refugee
Just as her father came across the sea
She heard about a place people were smilin'
They spoke about the red man's way,
how they loved the land
And they came from everywhere
to the Great Divide
Seeking a place to stand
or a place to hide
Down in the crowded bars,
out for a good time,
Can't wait to tell you all,
what it's like up there
And they called it paradise
I don't know why
Somebody laid the mountains low
while the town got high
Then the chilly winds blew down
Across the desert
through the canyons of the coast,
to the Malibu
Where the pretty people play,
hungry for power
to light their neon way
give them things to do
Some rich men came and raped the land,
Nobody caught 'em
Put up a bunch of ugly boxes,
and Jesus people bought 'em
'nd they called it paradise
The place to be
They watched the hazy sun, sinking in the sea
You can leave it all behind and sail to Lahaina
just like the missionaries did, so many years ago
They even brought a neon sign: "Jesus is coming"
Brought the white man's burden down
Brought the white man's reign
Who will provide the grand design?
What is yours and what is mine?
'Cause there is no more new frontier
We have got to make it here
We satisfy our endless needs and
justify our bloody deeds,
in the name of destiny
and in the name of God
And you can see them there,
On Sunday morning
They stand up and sing about
what it's like up there
They call it paradise
I don't know why
You call someplace paradise,
kiss it goodbye
The book reminds me of a couple of songs. The first is "Paradise" by John Fogerty:
When I was a child my family would travel
Down to Western Kentucky where my parents were born
There's a backwards old town that's often remembered
So many times that my memories are worn.
And daddy, won't you take me back to Muhlenberg County
Down by the Green River where Paradise lay?
Well, I'm sorry, my son, but you're too late in asking
Mr. Peabody's coal train has hauled it away.
Well, sometimes we'd travel right down the Green River
To the abandoned old prison down by Adrie Hill
Where the air smelled like snakes and we'd shoot with our pistols
But empty pop bottles was all we would kill.
And daddy, won't you take me back to Muhlenberg County
Down by the Green River where Paradise lay?
Well, I'm sorry, my son, but you're too late in asking
Mr. Peabody's coal train has hauled it away.
Hey!
Then the coal company came with the world's largest shovel
And they tortured the timber and stripped all the land
Well, they dug for their coal till the land was forsaken
Then they wrote it all down as the progress of man.
And daddy, won't you take me back to Muhlenberg County
Down by the Green River where Paradise lay?
Well, I'm sorry, my son, but you're too late in asking
Mr. Peabody's coal train has hauled it away.
When I die, let my ashes float down the Green River
Let my soul roll on up to the Rochester dam
I'll be halfway to Heaven with Paradise waitin'
Just five miles away from wherever I am.
And daddy, won't you take me back to Muhlenberg County
Down by the Green River where Paradise lay?
Well, I'm sorry, my son, but you're too late in asking
Mr. Peabody's coal train has hauled it away.
The second is "Last Resort" by the Eagles:
She came from Providence,
the one in Rhode Island
Where the old world shadows hang
heavy in the air
She packed her hopes and dreams
like a refugee
Just as her father came across the sea
She heard about a place people were smilin'
They spoke about the red man's way,
how they loved the land
And they came from everywhere
to the Great Divide
Seeking a place to stand
or a place to hide
Down in the crowded bars,
out for a good time,
Can't wait to tell you all,
what it's like up there
And they called it paradise
I don't know why
Somebody laid the mountains low
while the town got high
Then the chilly winds blew down
Across the desert
through the canyons of the coast,
to the Malibu
Where the pretty people play,
hungry for power
to light their neon way
give them things to do
Some rich men came and raped the land,
Nobody caught 'em
Put up a bunch of ugly boxes,
and Jesus people bought 'em
'nd they called it paradise
The place to be
They watched the hazy sun, sinking in the sea
You can leave it all behind and sail to Lahaina
just like the missionaries did, so many years ago
They even brought a neon sign: "Jesus is coming"
Brought the white man's burden down
Brought the white man's reign
Who will provide the grand design?
What is yours and what is mine?
'Cause there is no more new frontier
We have got to make it here
We satisfy our endless needs and
justify our bloody deeds,
in the name of destiny
and in the name of God
And you can see them there,
On Sunday morning
They stand up and sing about
what it's like up there
They call it paradise
I don't know why
You call someplace paradise,
kiss it goodbye
December 17, 2016
I began this book appreciating Reece's project of documenting the year-long destruction of a mountain to get at its coal. His eye caught the telling details. His turns of phrase were beautiful and sometimes witty but breathtakingly sad. As the book went on, however, I became more and more angry at the people that Kentucky chose to govern it and represent it, who gave every accommodation to Massey Coal and other companies and literally allowed them to get away with murder.
One of these elected officials, U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell, is now in the position to do to the country as a whole what he has done to his state--sell it off to the highest bidder while pretending to be acting on principle--and McConnell's wife, Elaine Chao, was the labor secretary under George W. Bush who let the coal companies cut corners. Miners died because of her, and so did people who live downhill from the mountaintops they removed. The Martin County disaster was 30 times larger than the Exxon Valdez oil spill, and it happened on her watch. Now, Trump has nominated her to be the transportation secretary.
Unlike some other readers, I appreciated the pensive quality of the book, the poetry it included, and the introduction to warblers and wood rats as if they were characters in the story. But I am left with a white hot fury that will not let me remember the beauty of the book.
One of these elected officials, U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell, is now in the position to do to the country as a whole what he has done to his state--sell it off to the highest bidder while pretending to be acting on principle--and McConnell's wife, Elaine Chao, was the labor secretary under George W. Bush who let the coal companies cut corners. Miners died because of her, and so did people who live downhill from the mountaintops they removed. The Martin County disaster was 30 times larger than the Exxon Valdez oil spill, and it happened on her watch. Now, Trump has nominated her to be the transportation secretary.
Unlike some other readers, I appreciated the pensive quality of the book, the poetry it included, and the introduction to warblers and wood rats as if they were characters in the story. But I am left with a white hot fury that will not let me remember the beauty of the book.
May 21, 2019
The Book I read was "Lost Mountain: A Year In The Vanishing Wilderness", by Erik Reece. This book is about Erik Reece and his time spent in the Appalachian Mountains. He witnessed many trees and wildlife being destroyed by people strip mining for coal. He watches one mountain in particular, called the Lost Mountain. Over the one year period that he spends there, he watches the decimation of the mountain and the area around it. It helps you realize the damage that is being done to the environment and how we need to stop it.
I would recommend this book to anyone that cares about the environment or just needs a nonfiction book to read. That was the case for me, and I ended up liking it. I rated it 3 stars because I am not a big fan of nonfiction books. But still, this was still a really good and interesting book and I would recommend it if you need something to read.
I would recommend this book to anyone that cares about the environment or just needs a nonfiction book to read. That was the case for me, and I ended up liking it. I rated it 3 stars because I am not a big fan of nonfiction books. But still, this was still a really good and interesting book and I would recommend it if you need something to read.
March 15, 2022
Really a well-written, eye-opening narrative of what coal mining has done, not only to the landscape but its ecosystem as well. Towns and people have been affected, destroyed, removed, impoverished while corporate mine owners get ridiculously wealthy. Unionization brought isolation, mining was king, and the less corporate owners had to pay, the better. Sales of the mine erased money-owed in the communities and beyond. It also erased any benefits mine-workers had negotiated with the previous company.
This book reveals the worst of corporate America, their lack of any respect or compassion for the environment and its people and their communities. Their short-term gains make that all appropriate, evidently.
A must read book about the cost of 'cheap' energy.
This book reveals the worst of corporate America, their lack of any respect or compassion for the environment and its people and their communities. Their short-term gains make that all appropriate, evidently.
A must read book about the cost of 'cheap' energy.
August 9, 2025
You can draw a straight line from the last book I read — Megan Greenwell’s Bad Company, about private equity and its predatorial effect on American lives and communities — and Lost Mountain, which tells the story of strip mining through the prism of a single mountain in eastern Kentucky, which Reece visits repeatedly over the course of a year. Both books stress the interconnectedness of all humans; Reece’s book folds in the natural world and the devastating environmental effects of strip mining. Like Bad Company, Lost Mountain tempers its outrage with glimpses of hope in the stories of those resisting the coal industry’s pillaging of their land. As one person says to Reece, “You’re not an outsider … we all live downstream.”
May 2, 2020
A no-pulled-punches exposé of the devastation wrought upon the land and the people of four states (Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, and Kentucky) by the technique of strip mining.
In the book, Erik Reece sheds light on the practice, which has put thousands out of work, poisoned water sources, and effectively ravaged the wilderness of coal country.
Furthermore, he strongly indicts the legislators that have furthered and profited from looser coal mining regulations.
A thorough bit of investigative journalism, with an unforgiving look at one of the twenty first century’s ugliest politically-engineered affronts against the American people.
In the book, Erik Reece sheds light on the practice, which has put thousands out of work, poisoned water sources, and effectively ravaged the wilderness of coal country.
Furthermore, he strongly indicts the legislators that have furthered and profited from looser coal mining regulations.
A thorough bit of investigative journalism, with an unforgiving look at one of the twenty first century’s ugliest politically-engineered affronts against the American people.
March 6, 2019
Impeccable documentation of the destruction of a Kentucky mountain for coal. Thorough and thought-provoking.
The novel that got me interested in this was historical fiction: The Cumberland Killers: A Kentucky Mystery also worth a read on this subject.
Reece is to be commended for his attention to detail and the way he ties mountains to ecosystems and the overall environment.
The novel that got me interested in this was historical fiction: The Cumberland Killers: A Kentucky Mystery also worth a read on this subject.
Reece is to be commended for his attention to detail and the way he ties mountains to ecosystems and the overall environment.
January 17, 2022
The majority of this book is incredibly informative and powerful. Anyone who uses coal-based energy has a responsibility to understand the impact to the places that coal is striped from. We cannot afford to be uninformed. Unfortunately, the final sections of this book, part 2 and the conclusion, felt unnecessary and detracted from the urgency of the earlier narrative. Leaving these sections aside, however, the rest of the book was well worth reading.
February 23, 2024
This is like two books in one. Just about every other chapter is an account of monthly trips the author took to Lost Mountain while it was being strip mined by a coal company. The other chapters look at the people in the community and how they react to the wholesale destruction going on around them. A horrifying tale to be sure but I think the scattershot approach deadens the impact. Still, it's a worthwhile read for -- well, everyone really.
September 29, 2026
I really enjoyed this view of coal strip mining. It explained a lot of the unknown which included just the strip mining itself and all the social and environmental aspects. As a temporary resident, it really helped me understand some of the social dynamics that were really confusing. I would recommend it to anyone that is looking far an easy understandable education on Appalachian strip mining and culture.
May 13, 2017
A devastating description of mountaintop removal mining which continues to this day in Appalachia. The author focuses on a single mountain and the impact is clear and relevant.
A worthwhile addition to the library of any environmentalist.
A worthwhile addition to the library of any environmentalist.
January 7, 2020
A scathing indictment of unsustainable mining practices pursued for a quick profit, and the devastation it wreaks on the environment, the workers and communities. I read it 15 years after its publishing, and it seems oddly prescient.
July 6, 2020
Interesting take watching the mountain top disappear over the year. But the author could have dug deeper into the community. And also, there is little on what to do or where do we go from here. It's descriptive only.
February 27, 2017
Great read on strip mining-
August 7, 2017
Important topic, emotionally persuasive. Arguments could have better logical structure.
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