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This is relatively polite social history (or sociology done narrative? is it still social history if it's about the more-or-less present) based on case study work Appalachia and in the Delta in the 1990s.
I say "relatively polite" because while being fairly direct about the extent of disadvantage and oppression in the areas being discussed, the text doesn't do much to really pull the full context of what went into creating that persistent poverty. They talk about the control of coal mine owners over regions of Appalachia without going into the government backed armies that broke coal strikes. They talk about the control of white farm owners over black workers in the Delta without ever using the word lynching. They talk about the distrust mountain-dwelling white folks in Appalachia have of government workers and programs without ever mentioning the government's eugenics campaigns where folks were sterilized by the government.
Part of this is understandable - it's a desire to not alienate those in power who might work to do good in the present. But on the other hand, I think that it downplays the strength of the human spirit when you fail to mention how hard people in power had to work, for how long, how murderously, in order to suppress that spirit.
If you stop to think about the murder, abuse, and carnage that went, for centuries, into keeping people economically and politically isolated and oppressed, the wonder is not that they're dispirited or mistrustful - the wonder is that anyone continues to fight for a better life, to try to form new alliances, to respond positively in any way.
It's a fairly useful and interesting book for the surface snapshot it gives of relatively current conditions, but it's awfully polite so far. I'm not done yet. Maybe it will get some fire soon.
I say "relatively polite" because while being fairly direct about the extent of disadvantage and oppression in the areas being discussed, the text doesn't do much to really pull the full context of what went into creating that persistent poverty. They talk about the control of coal mine owners over regions of Appalachia without going into the government backed armies that broke coal strikes. They talk about the control of white farm owners over black workers in the Delta without ever using the word lynching. They talk about the distrust mountain-dwelling white folks in Appalachia have of government workers and programs without ever mentioning the government's eugenics campaigns where folks were sterilized by the government.
Part of this is understandable - it's a desire to not alienate those in power who might work to do good in the present. But on the other hand, I think that it downplays the strength of the human spirit when you fail to mention how hard people in power had to work, for how long, how murderously, in order to suppress that spirit.
If you stop to think about the murder, abuse, and carnage that went, for centuries, into keeping people economically and politically isolated and oppressed, the wonder is not that they're dispirited or mistrustful - the wonder is that anyone continues to fight for a better life, to try to form new alliances, to respond positively in any way.
It's a fairly useful and interesting book for the surface snapshot it gives of relatively current conditions, but it's awfully polite so far. I'm not done yet. Maybe it will get some fire soon.
