Book Review of Rednecks by Taylor Brown

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book stats:

320 pages, to be published in May 2024 and currently available for pre-order (I received an Advanced Reading Copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review)

you may enjoy this book if you like:

Appalachian history * Historic fiction * Books set in Appalachia

travel inspiration:

Rednecks is set in the area of Logan, West Virginia, right near Blair Mountain, home to the largest union uprising in US history.

about the author: taylor brown

Rednecks is Taylor Brown’s sixth novel and follows Fallen Land (2016), The River of Kings (2017), Gods of Howl Mountain (2018), Pride of Eden (2020), and Wingwalkers (2022). In addition to his novels, Brown has authored a selection of short stories In the Season of Blood and Gold (2014). Brown currently lives in Savannah, Georgia. He is the recipient of a multitude of awards, and was named the 2021 Georgia Author of the Year. Prior to settling in Savannah, Brown lived in Buenos Aires, San Francisco, and North Carolina. You can check out more about this author on his website.

review of REDNECKS by tAYLOR BROWN

In the early 1920s, the American soldiers who had survived the brutal trench warfare had returned from the Great War in Europe. They returned to their homes and to new lives in a rapidly urbanizing country. Except some people lived a rural existence, not much different than the lives of their parents before them. And some of those same people had spent the war deep underground in a coal mine. You see, part of the war effort required that some of the country’s fittest men continue slogging away in the mines to serve their country, whose war apparatus would come to a standstill without the power of coal.

How did the country repay these coal miners? As Rednecks brings to life, the American government fought against and dropped bombs on their own citizens as a response to their attempt to unionize against Big Coal. As they say, truth is stranger than fiction.

The Battle of Blair Mountain is not taught in schools. It was barely publicized when it occurred, for obvious reasons. But this battle on American soil that pitted the government against its own citizens is a true story that shows the perils of big business and government in cahoots.

Rednecks is a fictionalized account based on this true story and seeks to shine the light of day on a dark moment from a century ago. Before the battle and soldiers in town, first came inhumane treatment. As with other “company towns,” the company owned everything and everyone. Miners’ homes were property of the coal company, the local store would have likely offered food and other necessities on credit only, payable through paychecks. This created a situation ripe for abuse where to do anything against the coal company would leave someone destitute and homeless. Fed up with the treatment, American workers in coal mines – like in many industries – sought to unionize and better their situation.

By the opening of Rednecks, the Baldwin Miners have already been striking and the retort of the coal company is often nothing less than death or atrocious beatings. Brown builds his fictional account around a Lebanese doctor, ‘Doc Moo,’ and his family; Big Frank, a miner, and his grandmother, Miss Beulah; Sidney Hatfield; and adds to them real people like Mother Jones (1837-1930), known for her union organizing during her lifetime.

This novel is a slow burn, not unlike the conditions that lead to the ultimate conflagration. A shooting here, a response, a beating there, a response; if the town were music, it would be jazz, with the call-and-response dynamic. The miners and their families have been kicked out of their homes in town and have been living in an unsanitary tent city up in the mountains. While the coal company has all the power, the miners really have nothing to lose. Led by Big Frank, who gradually becomes more extreme over the course of the novel based on his abuse at the hands of the opposition, the miners decide to fight back with all they’ve got.

Doc Moo, originally serving as the doctor to all in the area, is ultimately forced to choose a side. History is complicated and – as the novel reminds us – the victors write the history. That doesn’t mean there isn’t a right side.

Brown’s novel is disturbing in its violence and inhumane treatment but it is not without hope, best epitomized in Doc Moo’s focus on healing and saving life even under the worst circumstances. I’d recommend this novel to anyone interested in Appalachian history and lesser told stories of American history. Not having been familiar with this author previously, I look forward to reading more from him!

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