“They say in Harlan CountyThere are no neutrals there;You’ll either be a union manor a thug for J.H. Blair Tell me, which side are you on?Which side are you on?” — Florence Reece, 19311 Introduction: Harlan in the Camera eye 1917. Wartime. Harlan’s black diamonds make up for Britain’s idle coal industry, fire steel foundries …
No Neutrals: The Harlan County Miner’s Strike of 1931 Read More »
I am delighted with The Irishman, Martin Scorsese’s biopic masterpiece based on the story of former Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa and his disappearance. The movie is mostly based on tape-recorded interviews with Hoffa bodyguard Frank Sheeran as distilled in former criminal prosecutor Charles Brandt’s book, I Heard You Paint Houses. Early in that book we …
MARTIN SCORSESE’S “THE IRISHMAN” AND THE AMERICAN MIDDLE CLASS Read More »
I am not a wu wu kind of guy. I’ve made my living as a fulltime lawyer or in legal-related employment since June of 1979. My wife and I are fortunate to own our home in a nice Maryland suburb. Our wonderful daughter is a sixth grader with braces. Despite these and other accoutrements of …
by Theodore Dreiser, John Dos Pasos et. al (University of Kentucky Press 2008) The Netflix series Justified transports Deputy U.S. Marshall Raylan Givens from Miami’s South Beach to pursue bandits and intrigue in the alternative universe of Harlan County, Kentucky. This series portrays a world of impoverished Appalachians looking for work in a world of …