Taylor Brown

Rednecks, by author Taylor Brown is a fictional account of a sadly long-forgotten part of American labour history, the Battle of Blair Mountain which was as Wikipedia points out, ‘the largest labor uprising in United States history and is the largest armed struggle since the Civil War’. Albeit fiction, he stays very close to the actual events, providing a well-written, well-researched, compelling and, best of all, a nigh unputdownable look at the battle between an estimated 10,000 striking coal miners and the mine owners, local militia, private detectives and local and federal law enforcement in West Virginia and the events that led up to it in 1920 and ‘21. Among the characters are some of the real life participants including Mother Jones, UMW president Bill Blizzard, and Smilin’ Sid Hatfield as well as many composite characters of other actual participants. The battle (and the novel) ended when President Harding threatened aerial bombing of the miners, many of whom were veterans of WWI. By then, there was approximately one hundred dead from both sides. For anyone interested in labour history or well-written, well-researched and fascinating historical fiction about little known but important events of history, I can’t recommend this book highly enough.

I received an eARC of this novel from Netgalley and St Martin’s Press in exchange for an honest review… (more)

Brown brings alive a long-forgotten instance of class war in America in a blow-by-blow account of the Blair Mountain coal miners strike in West Virginia in response to the massacre of miners and eviction of their families in the town of Matewan. For the next year, 10,000 miners, of varying age and ethnicity, many of them Great War veterans, many of them Black descendants of slaves, all of them sorely exploited by King Coal and its government minions, fought back against subsistence wages, company housing, company stores, union-breaking and outright starvation. He ends his story with the President’s ultimatum that the strikers must return to work or face federal troops, including the new Air Force ready to bomb its own citizens in the name of profit. They had little choice, having lost so many of their brothers, and now facing certain annihilation. The inimitable Mother Jones is shown in all her firebrand glory, as are many other real historical characters.

Brown provides a select bibliography of the classic published works and a few recent studies that suggest the Matewan story is once again drawing scholarly attention. His explanation of how he immersed himself in the local archives and newspapers of the time shows the depth of his research. I’m surprised he doesn’t mention the award-winning (though box office flop) John Sayles film Matewan; it often came to mind as I read this riveting novel. The only reason it’s not a full five stars for me is that I would like to have seen more of the day-to-day lives and sustaining relationships of the miners, who themselves believed they were fighting for their families and each other as much as for their fundamental rights as workers. Most of the attention is on the actual fighting, and how it was carried out, in savage fashion, on both sides. Whether you know the story or not, this is an excellent presentation that powerfully entwines historical fact and empathetic reimagining.… (more)

During 1920 to 1921 in the hills of West Virginia, striking mine workers and company men faced off against one another in a forgotten war. Over one million bullets were fired, bombs were dropped, and men died in droves. This book singles out a handful of characters including Doc Moo a Lebanese-American, Frank Hugham, a black miner and Smilin Sid Hatfield, the town’s sheriff.

This was a well written and engaging book - I had a hard time putting it down! I was amazed that this battle was fought on American soil, but is not mentioned in the history books. I am also fascinated by the history of labor relations in the US and how workers struggled and fought for their rights. Overall, highly recommended!… (more)