I could not put this away. Once I saw what happened here: the orange Tug River from the strip mines…the strip mining, the desecration, the poverty. I owed it to the world to tell what happened.
Special thanks to Chris Garlock of the Labor Heritage Foundation for coming down for our latest book talk and recording audio for their podcast, Labor History Today. We experienced some technical difficulties Saturday and were left with a pretty poor quality live stream. Tune in to the much better, audio-only stream provided by Labor History Today by using the button below.
William Trent Pancoast has worked as a construction laborer, gas station attendant, railroad section hand and brakeman, factory laborer, commercial laundry foreman, and machinist. He’s been an English teacher and a journeyman die maker. This past weekend we welcomed him back to Matewan for the first time in over 40 years. Bill joined us in the museum community center this past Saturday to talk about his novel, The Road To Matewan.
In 1986 The Wall Street Journal dubbed Pancoast a "Blue collar writer" and that’s just fine with him, as he told the Journal, "The reason I write about work is that that's just about damn near all I've ever done."
His working-class-flavored short stories and essays have appeared in many Midwestern and international magazines and newspapers.
Pancoast's novel Crashing was published in 1983. In 1986, his United Auto Worker's union history was published. Pancoast spent the next twenty years as the editor of a monthly union newspaper-the Union Forum-while continuing to publish his fiction, essays, and editorials not only in the Union Forum but also in the UAW's 1.2 million circulation Solidarity magazine.
By the way, as you’ll hear, the train still runs through town right across from the museum.
Labor History Today is produced by the Labor Heritage Foundation and the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor.
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