Authors: Gerry FitzGerald

Redemption Mountain (66 page)

BOOK: Redemption Mountain

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Yet, in spite of all this outcry, and in spite of the competition from shale natural gas, the coal industry continues to blast away the mountains, forests, and streams of West Virginia and Kentucky. Dozens of new sites have been permitted, with dozens of applications awaiting review or appeal. The EPA heroically suspended the permits for Mingo Logan Coal Company's Spruce No. 1 MTR site in Logan County, West Virginia, and was hauled before a congressional committee to face the wrath of coal-friendly reps and their industry lobbyists. With the next Republican administration (as with the last one), the rate of mountaintop removal will again ratchet up to keep pace with our insatiable consumption of low-cost electricity, and destroying more Appalachian mountains will be a central component of our national energy policy.

To learn more about mountaintop-removal coal mining, and to perhaps add your voice to the outcry, start with the books and the documentaries mentioned above and the websites listed below.

iLove Mountains:
www.iLoveMountains.org

Appalachian Voices:
www.appvoices.org

Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition:
www.ohvec.org

West Virginia Highlands Conservancy:
www.wvhighlands.org

Coal River Mountain Watch:
www.crmw.net

Natural Resources Defense Council:
www.nrdc.org

The Sierra Club:
www.sierraclub.org

G
ERRY
F
ITZ
G
ERALD

August 2012

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Redemption Mountain
is a work of fiction. The characters, their thoughts, actions, and words are entirely the creation of the author and any resemblances found to an actual person are coincidental and inadvertent. The corporations named in the story are also fictitious.

All of the places referred to in the story are real with the notable exceptions of the town of Red Bone, Redemption Mountain, and Hickory Hills Country Club. McDowell County is in fact the southernmost county in West Virginia, located in the heart of the Pocahontas Coal Field that powered America's industrial revolution and fueled the war machines that saved the world twice in the last century. Mamaroneck, New York, is a diverse city of seventeen thousand in Westchester County. New York, New York, remains the world's greatest city, and Warren, Vermont, is very close to Heaven.

The historical events referred to in the story are real, well documented from numerous sources, and are described as factually and faithfully as I can determine. Hank's personal account of the Buffalo Creek Disaster of 1972 borrows heavily from an enthralling and heartbreaking series of stories (largely the work of reporter Ken Ward Jr., mentioned below) published in the
Charleston Gazette
on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the tragedy in 1997. The December 6, 1907, coal mine explosion in Monongah, West Virginia, claimed the lives of 362 miners and remains this country's worst coal mine disaster. On November 20, 1968, a fire in the Consol Mine in Farmington, West Virginia, killed seventy-eight miners. The original New York production of
Les MisÃ©rables
closed on March 15, 2003, after a sixteen-year run on Broadway.

Hank's discourses on the West Virginia Mine Wars, the Matewan Massacre, and the subsequent fates of Sheriff Sid Hatfield and his deputy, Ed Chambers, are drawn from numerous sources, including:
American Heritage Magazine
, August 1974;
The West Virginia Mine Wars
by Cabell Phillips; “The Battle of Matewan,”
www.matewan.com/History/battle2.htm
; “West Virginia's Mine Wars,” West Virginia Division of Culture and History,
www.wvculture.org/history/minewars.html
; and “Matewan,”
United Mine Workers of America History
,
www.umwa.org/history/matewan.shtml
.

For an understanding of the economics of the coal mining industry as well as what life was like in the coal fields during the last century, I am indebted to a wonderfully written book,
Coal: A Memoir and Critique
, by Duane Lockard (University Press of Virginia, 1998).

Throughout the writing of
Redemption Mountain
, I found myself continually referring back to and rereading parts of a wonderful book entitled
The Heritage of McDowell County, West Virginia, 1858â1999
, published by the McDowell County Historical Society and edited by Geneva Steele, Sandra Long, and Tom Hatcher. I came by this book through a chance online meeting of my friend Geneva Steele of Bradshaw, West Virginia, many years ago when I was just starting the book. She has supplied many helpful comments on the story over the years and I am in her debt.

The articles, columns, and blogs of Ken Ward Jr., of the
Charleston Gazette,
have educated me on the history of coal mining in West Virginia, coal mining safety, the attendant government bureaus and agencies, and the effects of mountaintop-removal coal mining in West Virginia as well as the machinations of local, state, and federal politicians who enable it to continue. Mr. Ward is an exhaustive reporter and a prolific, lucid writer whose style made every story enlightening, every paragraph a pleasure to read.

A great many people contributed to the publishing of
Redemption Mountain
. My agent, Loretta Barrett, was a rock and a great friend throughout a long process. My editors, Jill Lamar and Phyllis Grann, deserve medals for patience, as does Joanna Levine at Holt. My friend, Carol Churchill, reviewed the entire, massive first manuscript many years ago and provided invaluable help and encouragement.

I am fortunate to have a number of good friends who took a great interest in the book and provided an incredible level of support and encouragement. They can't know how much their kind words and recommendations meant to me. I need to thank a few: Bob Page, Rich Dowling, Mike Aliberti, Pam Aronson, Kevin and Mary McCullough, Maryann and Fernando Goulart, John Skar, Dave Daniels, Joanne Carlisle, Debbie and Andy Okun, Donna Goff, Rolly Ciocca, Jay Hamilton, Gail Mathes, Korby Clark, Chris and Sue Mastroianni, Sheila Doiron, Tom Foley, and of course, Eddie Sheehan.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

G
ERRY
F
ITZ
G
ERALD
has been in advertising for nearly thirty years, and owns an advertising agency in Springfield, Massachusetts. He holds a master's in journalism from the Medill School at Northwestern University and is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He lives in East Longmeadow, Massachusetts, with his wife Robin, and has two children in college.

Reading Group Gold

Redemption Mountain

Gerry Fitzgerald

Discussion Questions

Â Â 1. The story alternates from the bustling backdrop of New York City to the pristine landscape of West Virginia. What roles do the settings play in the story? How important are the locations in relation to the characters of the novel?

Â Â 2. Natty has the will and tenacity of a strong woman, yet also exhibits the frailty of a young girl. Where do you think her insecurity stems from, and how does she grow throughout her journey throughout the novel? What contributes to her development?

Â Â 3. Natty tells Charlie that “there's a lot of heartache in these mountains,” referring to Southern West Virginia. In what ways does this statement resonate with the lives of the people of McDowell County?

Â Â 4. What role does the Pie Man play in Natty and Charlie's relationship? How does he, a young boy with a disability, act as a source of strength for the pair and for the community?

Â Â 5. How does Charlie evolve throughout the novel? What is he searching for in the beginning of the novel, and what does he find during his time in West Virginia? What does he learn about himself?

Â Â 6. Many of the characters in the novel have a longing to escape their circumstances and physical boundaries. Discuss the theme of being trapped or the desire to escape in the context of the novel.

Â Â 7. Do you think that Buck is a sympathetic character? Natty believes that he is really a good person who just experienced a lot of hardship in his life. Do you think that everyone is capable of change regardless of their troubled past, if only you believe in them? Does Buck redeem himself in the end?

Â Â 8. Natty and Charlie are from two different worlds, yet they both fill a void within the other that draws them together. Despite their apparent connection, however, they also have hope in the promise of their spouses and current marriages. Do you think that it is possible to love two people at the same time?

Â Â 9. The story is also about big industry taking advantage of a small town. How is big business portrayed, and how are industries such as coal mining humanized in the novel? Does it make you rethink your ideas of how we garner our resources and the practices that are used?

10. With her undeniable talent, Emma seemed destined for greater things outside of West Virginia. Although she never got the opportunity to leave, how did she impact others? What was the legacy she left behind and what did she come to symbolize?

11. Should Natty have stayed with Buck after he beat her? Would her life have been better if she had left him for good after the beating?

12. The trip to New York is the perfect opportunity for Natty and Charlie to give in to their desires, yet they refrain from having an affair. Why? How does the trip away from Red Bone solidify the future of their relationship, and how does it affect both Natty and Charlie individually?

13. Charlie and Natty decide to go their separate ways despite their love for one another. Do you think they are both happy with this decision? Do you believe that they made the right decision? Do you believe in the adage that “it is better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all?”

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