It has been said that publishers will do books that please the political left, but they will charge so much for them that their conservative backers won’t mind. I have been involved in the struggle against strip mining in Appalachia since the early 1970s, so it is easy for me to find areas I don’t believe are covered adequately here. Is Witt uncomfortable seeking out working class opposition, especially by women? Where is Granny Hager, Eula Hall, Bessie Smith Gayheart, Hazel Dickens, even? And where is J. W. Bradley? And how do you address this topic when only one paragraph is devoted to the Commission on Religion in Appalachia, and Appalachian Ministries Educational Resource Center isn’t even mentioned? And how can you lump MACED in with SOCM and KFTC without recognizing the difference between activist groups and a group devoted to research and community service. I believe that the role of evangelicals was crucial in the early days of opposition to strip mining. That topic cries out for more attention. But Witt hardly covers its prominent figures at all. Dan Gibson and Warren Wright are in the index, but they are only mentioned in passing with no reference to the evangelical roots of their environmentalism, and Preacherman Hamilton isn’t even mentioned.. The author teaches religion at Mississippi State University.
Lexington, The University Press of Kentucky, 2016, 284 pages with an index, notes, bibliography, and a few photographs. Hardback with pictorial cover