{"product_id":"they-say-in-harlan-county-an-oral-history-oxford-oral-history-series-9780199735686","title":"They Say in Harlan County: An Oral History (Oxford Oral History Series)","description":"\u003cp\u003eMade famous in the 1976 documentary Harlan County USA  this pocket of Appalachian coal country has been home to generations of miners--and to some of the most bitter labor battles of the 20th century. It has also produced a rich tradition of protest songs and a wealth of fascinating culture and custom that has remained largely undiscovered by outsiders  until now.  They Say in Harlan County is not a book about coal miners so much as a dialogue in which more than 150 Harlan County women and men tell the story of their region  from pioneer times through the dramatic strikes of the 1930s and 70s  up to the present. Alessandro Portelli draws on 25 years of original interviews to take readers into the mines and inside the lives of those who work  suffer  and often die in them--from black lung  falling rock  suffocation  or simply from work that can be literally backbreaking. The book is structured as a vivid montage of all these voices--stoic  outraged  grief-stricken  defiant--skillfully interwoven with documents from archives  newspapers  literary works  and the authors own participating and critical voice. Portelli uncovers the whole history and memory of the United States in this one symbolic place  through settlement  civil war  slavery  industrialization  immigration  labor conflict  technological change  migration  strip mining  environmental and social crises  and resistance. And as hot-button issues like mountain-top removal and the use of \"clean coal\" continue to hit the news  the history of Harlan County--especially as seen through the eyes of those who lived it--is becoming increasingly important.  With rare emotional immediacy  gripping narratives  and unforgettable characters  They Say in Harlan County tells the real story of a culture  the resilience of its people  and the human costs of coal mining.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45651403407413,"sku":"ByrdShop_0199735689","price":82.89,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780199735686.jpg?v=1781834460","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/they-say-in-harlan-county-an-oral-history-oxford-oral-history-series-9780199735686","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}