They'll Cut Off Your Project: A Mingo County Chronicle (WEST VIRGINIA & APPALACHIA)
“This is a wonderful account of the poverty wars of the 1960s as they  unfolded in Mingo County, West Virginia.  Inspired (and funded) by the  federal war on poverty, the presumably apathetic Appalachian poor  mobilized with gusto.  And so did the challenged local power structure.   Read this book to learn about this moment of American history.”Frances Fox Piven,  Professor Political Science and Sociology, City University of New York  and author ofPoor People’s Movements: How They Succeed, Why They Fail"Huey Perry's account of the War on Poverty in West Virginia is a  classic.  Nothing I have read gives such an insider's account of both of  the promise of LBJ's initiative, and the way this hope was largely  subverted by state and local politicians and coal companies.  The book  is, as well, a quirky, funny page-turner.  I was hugely indebted to this  book while writing my novelThe Unquiet Earth.  WVU Press is to be commended for keeping this important account available both to historians and the general public."Denise Giardina, authorStorming HeavenandThe Unquiet EarthPraise for the first edition:“Perry’s story, told simply and without polemics, shows how hard it  is to do something that seems simple—get funds into the hands of the  poor.”Edward Magnuson, Timemagazine“This book is one of those unexpected delights that comes along every once in a while, but not often enough.” New Republic