Storming Heaven by Denise Giardina Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Storming Heaven
Book Review: Simply one of the most moving books I have ever read.
Summary: 5 Stars
And I've read a LOT of books. This is one of the few books I'veread that will have me laughing until my sides ache in one chapter,crying until I can't see the pages in another, and ready to go on aprotest march in the next.Storming Heaven is an exhaustively researched, historically accurate, and utterly compelling story of the Battle of Blair Mountain, WV in 1921. It's the story of an armed conflict between coal miners and the hired gunhands who represented the coal operators. It's a story of how the United States government turned on its own people, looking away when women and children were murdered in cold blood, sending troops into the valleys and dropping bombs on the mountains.
And if the story itself isn't stirring enough, Giardina writes some of the most beautiful prose I have ever read. The mountains are *alive* in her books.
My copy of Storming Heaven is so dog-eared and highlighted that I'll soon need to replace it. I am astounded that a couple of others have rated this book a 'hard read'. Compared to what? Danielle Steele?
Book Review: Storming Heaven
Summary: 5 Stars
Excellent fiction built around the onset of "strip mining" where coal is mined by removing entire mountains while displacing local people and poisoning the environment with by-products.
The story, based on a true incident, is from the perspective of ordinary people living in the mountains of West Virginia.
A must for students or anyone interested in issues of Social Justice.
Book Review: Storming Heaven
Summary: 4 Stars
This book was a raw and realistic account of what life must have been like for the coal miners of early days. You could tell Ms. Giardina had close connections to the accounts. Writing is one thing, but when you write what you feel you've accomplished something beautiful. The only reason I didn't give the book five stars is because the characters jumped around a little too much for my liking, but as the book progressed I got used to it. I have already purchased another of Ms. Giardina's books, The Unquiet Earth.Book Review: Storming Heaven
Summary: 4 Stars
Storming Heaven is a retelling of the unionization of the Coal Mines in Rural West Virginia and Kentucky. This is a tale of stolen land and power crazy coal owners that will go to any length to get the coal. It is very heart wrenching to read this story. At the very end, the author has an afterword, which leads me to believe this is based on a true event and even uses the real name of the people involved. The characters are very true to life and the dialect is spot on. Anyone who wants about the history of the area, should include this book in their must read list.Book Review: Storming Heaven
Summary: 5 Stars
This is another I read in high school and loved it so much that I wanted my kids, or at least my daughter to read it. She hasn't read it yet, but I've read it again and it is still a wonderful book that I feel anyone from the coal mining areas should read.