Rednecks

West Virginia coalminers stage a violent uprising in this sobering tale from Brown (The Wingwalkers). In May 1920, miners in Mingo County, W.Va., are evicted from their company-owned homes in retaliation for joining the United Mine Workers of America. Matewan police chief “Smilin’” Sid Hatfield, angered at the company’s brazen extralegal operation, guns down the private detective in charge of the evictions. By June, the miners are on strike. Nearly a year later, tired of living hungry in a makeshift tent colony, the miners attack the state police, who are siding with the company, and its band of deputized civilians. When Sid is assassinated, heavily armed miners from all over the state assemble near Matewan, dubbing themselves “Rednecks” for the red bandannas they wear around their necks. The violence escalates until the U.S. Secretary of War sends in the Army to put down the rebellion. Interweaving multiple points of view, primarily those of local physician Domit Muhanna, labor orgaziner Mary Harris (the real-life Mother Jones), and Frank Hugham, a Black miner and veteran of the Great War, Brown skillfully examines workers’ frustrations with large corporations and the politicians they pay off. Readers will find that this one hits hard. Agent: Julie Stevenson, Massie & McQuilkin Literary. (May)