Includes bibliographical references (pages 278-284).

Foreword / Nick Clooney -- Editor's note / Silas House -- Preface / Mari-Lynn Evans -- Introduction / Shirley Stewart Burns -- pt. 1. The coal-carved history of Appalachia -- Loretta Lynn from Butcher Holler / Shirley Stewart Burns and Silas House -- The roving pickets, 1962 / Denise Giardina -- A family history in coal dust / Shirley Stewart Burns -- Something ancient / Silas House -- Where the coal is coming from / Robert F. Kennedy Jr. -- Union legacy and green networking / Bryan NcNeil -- How Congress enabled mountaintop removal / Ken Hechler -- Empire building, one chunk of coal at a time / John Hennen -- Moving mountains / Erik Reece -- The problem in Appalachia / Jack Spadaro -- Speech against the Kentucky State Government / Wendell Berry -- pt. 2. Drawing a line in the coal seam -- The last patch of green earth / Ashley Judd -- "Coal is all West Virginia's got" / Shannon Elizabeth Bell -- Blood and coal (a Swiftian proposal) / George Ella Lyon -- Joe Lovett takes a king coal to court / Michael Shnayerson -- Burying our future / Jeff Goodell -- Blowing away King Coal / Jeff Biggers -- Making their own future / Penny Loeb -- The children of Twilight / Michael Hendryx -- A sin of omission / Jon Blair Hunter -- Not just an Appalachian problem / David W. Orr -- The other side of the light switch / Mary Anne Hitt -- Yellowroot Mountain / Ann Pancake -- I lift my eyes to the hills / John S. Rausch -- pt. 3. The voices of the people -- This land will never be for sale / Larry Gibson -- An open letter / Bo Webb -- The Mountaintop Removal Road Show / Dave Cooper -- One small voice / Teri Blanton -- Homeland Security / Cathie Bird -- A word of wisdom / Kathy Selvage -- My life is on the line / Maria Gunnoe -- The ripple effect / Kathy Mattea -- We're called the dustbusters / Pauline Canterberry and Mary Miller -- They think we're throwaway people / Members of Kentuckians for the Commonwealth -- A sense of place, a sense of self / Janet Keating -- Economic exile / Regina Hendrix -- In care of creation / Julia "Judy" Bonds -- To harness the wind / Lorelei Scarbro -- Meeting Governor Manchin / Mary Ellen Lough -- Yes we can / Jason Howard. An illustrated chronicle of the growing protest movement against mountaintop removal mining (MTR) of coal in Appalachia, including essays, commentary, and oral histories.