Coal River
by By Shnayerson, Michael
Category: Nature , Environmental Conservation & Protection

One of America's most dramatic environmental battles is unfolding in southern West Virginia. Coal companies are blasting the mountains, decapitating them for coal. The forested ridge tops and valley streams of Appalachia - one of the country's natural treasures - are being destroyed, along with towns and communities. An entire culture is disappearing, and to this day, most Americans have no idea it's happening.Michael Shnayerson first traveled to the coalfields four years ago, on assignment for Vanity Fair. There he met an inspiring young lawyer named Joe Lovett who was fighting mountaintop removal in court with a series of brilliant and daring lawsuits. He also met a resolute, hard-as-shale coal miner's daughter named Judy Bonds, whose grassroots group, Coal River Mountain Watch, was speaking out in a region where talking truth to power was both brave and dangerous. The two had joined forces to take on Massey Energy, the largest and most aggressive of the coal companies, and its swaggering, notorious chairman, Don Blankenship. The stage was set for an epic American struggle between fearless individuals and a greedy corporate giant; between a cherished way of life and the industry that threatened to destroy it forever.Coal River is Shnayerson's account of this dramatic struggle. From country hollows to federal courtrooms, from rural West Virginia to the corridors of power in Washington D.C., Shnayerson gives us a novelistic and compelling portrait of the people who risked their reputations and livelihoods in the fight against King Coal.