In 2005, Kentuckians for the Commonwealth organized a writers tour of mountaintop removal sites in Eastern Kentucky. Wendell Berry was a key participant, as was Bobbie Ann Mason. No better known writers has Kentucky produced. First we visited the home of a Leslie County activist whose property was surrounded by chopped off mountains. Then we went to Hindman Settlement School and listened to a panel of people affected and spent the night. The next day we had a plane ride that give us a perspective of the devastation from the air. Then we went to EKU where we presented a panel of participants. I was the M.C. We also released a statement to the press. After the tour was over, we worked on this book. I co-authored the chapter on the history of opposition to strip mining in Kentucky with Jerry Hardt of the KFTC staff, arranged for the late Charlie Hughes to publish it, and worked on finding photographs for it. It is a real tour-de-force. I know of no subsequent publication that has involved so many of Kentucky's most prominent writers.
Nicholasville: Wind Publications, 2005. 209 pages.