Red-Haired Ash Reads

“There is never peace in West Virginia because there is never justice.” 

Mother Jones

This was a beautifully illustrated history of the West Virginia mine wars. I really loved the black inking with only red coloring on the bandanas, blood, and torches. It just helped emphasize the scenes. 

“No capitalist is ever going to just give you what you need out of the kindness of their heart!”

Mother Jones

While this can’t go into all of the details of the mine wars, it hits all the highlights that lead up to the Battle of Blair Mountain and the end of the mine wars. It covers Mother Jones’ first time in West Virginia trying to start a union, the Paint Creek & Cabin Creek Strikes, the Matewan Massacre, and finally the Battle of Blair Mountain. These are all the major events of the mine wars, but this is a very brief overview of them so I highly recommend reading one of the books discussed in the introduction for more in depth information. 

My only real complaint with this is that some of the scenes began and ended abruptly. I felt like it needed one or two more panels to introduce or end a scene, but I can understand why that might be hard with how much history they had to condense in so few pages. 

Overall, this was a great introduction to the mine wars and I highly recommend it. Also, definitely check out other books on the mine wars to get a more in depth look at what these miners went through. 

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