Backbreaking work, threadbare clothes, and black coal dust choking the air -- this is what a miner's daughter knows. Willa Lowell fears that this dust marks her to be nothing else, that she will never win against the constant struggle to survive. Even the fierce flame of her family's love -- her one bright spot against the darkness -- has begun to dim. Willa yearns for a better life -- enough food to eat, clothes that fit, and a home free of black grit. She also yearns for a special love, the love of a boy who makes her laugh and shares the poetry she carries in her heart. When a much brighter future is suddenly promised to her family, Willa knows it is a miracle . . . until she discovers that every promise has a price. But she also discovers that the real change has burned inside her all along -- if only she is strong enough to mine it. Writing in a style that is as breathtaking and lyrical as it is powerful, Gretchen Moran Laskas draws from her family's past to bring to life the story of a girl struggling against seemingly insurmountable odds. The Miner's Daughterwill touch readers' hearts and stay with them long after they've read the last word.

Tying in with the publication of the singer's long-awaited autobiographical sequel--"Still Woman Enough"--this is the original autobiography of the girl from Butcher Holler. of photos.

William Bill Spencer Miller takes us on his journey of expansion and personal growth through his varied experiences as a farm boy in Brown County, Indiana to a Foreign Service Reserve Officer with the Peace Corps, a volunteer in Indonesia and Thailand, a Peace Corps director in the Kingdom of Tonga, and the Philippines. He went from attending a one-room school in Beanblossom, Indiana to Franklin College, to Eastern Illinois University where earned degrees in Biology, Kinesiology, and Sports, giving him a solid foundation to make his dreams come true. We learn about living in cultures different from our own as he shares his interactions living with and teaching the people of Indonesia and Thailand. Bill, always active, shares stories of playing basketball at the height of Hoosier Mania. His life-long love of running culminated in his participating in several triathlons, until a serious illness took him down, but not out of a productive life. He tells us of returning to the United States after ten years abroad and building a new life in Brown County with his wife and young family. We will learn about his new career paths and his work on the Deam Wilderness Project and his fight for landowners private property rights. Bill Millers experiences give voice to a life that has spanned (so far) a world that was still recovering from the Great Depression, World War II, the Korean War, the Cold War, the assassinations of prominent leaders in our country, the Civil Rights Movement, the Vietnam War, to our present day struggles around the globe.

A wealthy landlord’s son, and a coal miner’s daughter... Growing up in poverty, one of six siblings, Hannah Armstrong never thought she’d know anything other than her little mining town. But then she falls for Timothy Durkin, a wealthy Oxford student... Following her heart, Hannah sacrifices everything she holds dear and follows her new husband to Oxford. But will her new life of luxury be everything she expected - or will she find that once a coal miner's daughter, always a coal miner's daughter...?

This novel offers a powerful account of family life and labor conflicts, told through the eyes of a tough, resilient Appalachian woman who is, according to Richard Wright, "one of the most impressive proletarian characters in our literature." Daughter of the Hills exposes the economic conditions of the working class and the scarcity of opportunities for working-class women, but also tells the story of a loving marriage that endures despite severe hardships.

Much has been written over the years about life in the coal mines of Appalachia. Not surprisingly, attention has focused mainly on the experiences of male miners. In Daughters of the Mountain, Suzanne Tallichet introduces us to a cohort of women miners at a large underground coal mine in southern West Virginia, where women entered the workforce in the late 1970s after mining jobs began opening up for women throughout the Appalachian coalfields. Tallichet's work goes beyond anecdotal evidence to provide complex and penetrating analyses of qualitative data. Based on in-depth interviews with female miners, Tallichet explores several key topics, including social relations among men and women, professional advancement, and union participation. She also explores the ways in which women adapt to mining culture, developing strategies for both resistance and accommodation to an overwhelmingly male-dominated world.

A diary account of thirteen-year-old Anetka's life in Poland in 1896, immigration to America, marriage to a coal miner, widowhood, and happiness in finally finding her true love.