This groundbreaking work of literary nonfiction exposes how radical strip mining is destroying one of America's most precious natural resources and the communities--particularly in Appalachia--that depend upon it. ...A new form of strip mining has caused a state of emergency for the Appalachian wilderness and the communities that depend on it-a crisis compounded by issues of government neglect, corporate hubris, and class conflict. In this powerful call to arms, Erik Reece chronicles the year he spent witnessing the systematic decimation of a single mountain and offers a landmark defense of a national treasure threatened with extinction.
Reece, Erik Erik Reece teaches writing at the University of Kentucky. His work has appeared in "Harper's," "Orion," and "The Oxford American," among other publications. He is the recipient of the Sierra Club's David R. Brower Award and Columbia University's 2005 John B. Oakes Award for Distinguished Environmental Journalism. His collection of poems, "A Short History of the Present," is forthcoming.