The West Virginia Mine Wars

Learn more about the West Virginia Mine Wars, including the Battle of Blair Mountain, with these books, graphic novels, and DVDs!

Updated February 28, 2025
Jessamine County Public Library Books and Bites
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Matewan
Sayles, John
DVD
Independent filmmaker John Sayles creates one of his more artistic works with this period feature about a volatile 1920s labor dispute in the town of Matewan, West Virginia. Matewan is a coal town where the local miners' lives are controlled by the powerful Stone Mountain Coal Company. The company...
Black Coal and Red Bandanas: An Illustrated History of the West Virginia Mine Wars
Tyler, Raymond
Paper Book
In the early-20th century, strikes and union battles were common in industrial centers throughout the US. But nothing compared to the class warfare of the West Virginia Mine Wars. The origins of this protracted rebellion were in the dictatorial rule of the coal companies over the proud, multi...
The devil is here in these hills : West Virginia's coal miners and their battle for freedom
Green, James R.
Ebook
"The most comprehensive and comprehendible history of the West Virginia Coal War I've ever read." --John Sayles, writer and director of Matewan   On September 1, 1912, the largest, most protracted, and deadliest working-class uprising in American history...
Rednecks
Brown, Taylor
Audiobook
Winner of the Southern Book Prize for Fiction An NPR Best Book of 2024An Atlanta Journal-Constitution Best Southern Book of 2024 Co-winner of the 2024 Weatherford Award in Fiction Audie Award for Best Fiction A...

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