Storming Heaven (1987) by Denise Giardina

 1,001 Novels: A Library of America

Storming Heaven (1987)

by Denise Giardina

Annadel, West Virginia

West Virginia 4/10

   Hard to imagine a more rapacious form of capitalism than the coal industry.  My primary reference point for this world is the John Sayles film, Matewan, which I remember watching on PBS in junior high  My primary observation as a child was asking why anyone would even take a job in a coal mine in the first place, and I going into the West Virginia chapter of the 1,001 Novels: A Library of America, I thought I might find some answers.  

 Lo and behold, Storming Heaven, written by West Virginia born author Denise Giardina, finally provided me an answer to that question.   The answer, provided by one of the characters in this book, is that, when one is physically working in the mine, you have no boss.  So, despite the fact that the working conditions are awful, and the treatment outside the mine is rough, when you are working as a coal miner, inside that mine, you are more or less free to proceed as you see fit, and hopefully, you won't die.

 Storming Heaven is a fictionalized version of a real-life "Coal War" that ended only when the US army showed up with Gatling (machine) guns and planes fitted with bombs. Giardina breaks the narrative up into several perspectives, though the main perspective is that of a woman who is the sister of the local supervisor of the mine.  She becomes a nurse and falls for one of the labor organizers.  The brutal repression of the would-be organizers and miners is depicted bluntly.   

  Besides the climactic battle with the machine guns and bombers, there is also an indelible scene where two activists are being brought to trial for their pro-union activity and are murdered in cold blood directly in front of the courthouse by agents of the mine owners, with no repercussions for anyone.  Not a surprising history, but eye-opening regardless.