“God does not walk in these hills,....The devil is here in these hills, and the devil is greed.”

As a West Virginian, I have heard of the Mine Wars but like most people, I never learned about it in school because it was not a topic that is taught. If you read this book you will learn that after the Mine Wars the WV business leaders forced a group called American Constitutional Association that basically released propaganda to try and change West Virginians perspectives, this involved influencing textbooks in schools that never discussed the coal miners strike, unions, the Battle at Blair Mountain, and provided a false image of what life for coal miners actually like. Clearly the propaganda worked since in the 1990s and 2000s I still wasn’t learning about an important part of my state's history.

While this is geared towards young adults, I think this was a great book for adults to learn about this topic as well. LIke I said, I learned about the Mine Wars as an adult, but I didn’t know the full story, mostly just that it happened and why it was being fought. This book was a great book for me because it was easy to read, gave the full story without going too into the weeds with it, and provided great photographs and quotes. I planned on reading this over a few days but basically binged it in two sittings because it was so fascinating and easy to get through.

If you are interested in the Mine Wars, I highly recommend this book, especially if you are relatively new to the topic. I now want to dig deeper into my state's history around the Mine Wars, Mother Jones, and coal history.

TW: death, grief, gun violence, physical violence, imprisonment, corruption, starvation, child death