Book Review: “Rednecks” by Taylor Brown
Blood in the Streets
Suppose you review a book by an author and give it a favourable review. In that case, chances are that the author’s publicist will reach out to you with more books by the same author to read. That’s how I’ve now come to read four books by an author of Southern Gothic fiction, Taylor Brown: Gods of Howl Mountain, Pride of Eden, Wingwalkers, and now Rednecks. Like Wingwalkers before it, Rednecks is a work of historical fiction. Set in the years 1920 and ’21, the book covers the “Battle of Blair Mountain” in Western Virginia, where a multi-ethnic army of 10,000 ununionized coal miners was pitted against mine owners and their hired thugs, as well as state militia and even the U.S. government. As Brown is quick to point out, this skirmish that killed dozens of people was not only the most significant labor uprising in American history, but it almost marked the beginning of the Second Civil War. Tactics that miners and mine owner thugs might have learned when fighting overseas in World War I were used in this conflict, and trench warfare was employed on U.S. soil during this incident. And that is something probably most Americans don’t know, as this 100-year-old fight for the right to unionize — which wasn’t enshrined in law until 1933’s New Deal legislation — has been largely swept under the rug. Brown is here to shine a light on the proceedings, and I must say that this is either the best or the worst of his books.
The novel makes the reader feel like they are partaking in a great human injustice as they read of miners being thrown out of their company-owned homes and left to wither in tent shantytowns dotting the treacherous Southern landscape. This is also probably the most violent book I’ve ever read — with blood being spilled on just about every page. (Take that, Stephen King and Blood Meridian.) These two facets of the book can make it either one of tough sledding or white-knuckle excitement. The writing is also lyrical and almost poetic, which is at odds with its impoverished and brutal setting. Rednecks, thus, isn’t your average book. There’s a deep-seated appreciation of history here, with real-life union rabble-rouser Mother Jones a main character in this, even if she’s not given a whole lot to do but sit on the sidelines and wring her hands at the escalating situation. Other characters sometimes are pulled from the author’s own family: Doc Moo (the local doctor) is based on his great-grandfather, and Big Frank — a machine of a Black man who helped lead the insurrection on the miner’s side — is cobbled from two real-life men.
Beyond that, Rednecks is a novel that is tough to write about. One’s enjoyment of this might be based on your empathy for unionization and the time and place in which it is set. It is also a very episodic novel with bursts of action punctuating the text in short chapters — of which there are more than 80 of them. Once you get past the bloodletting and historical aspect of the book, there’s not much to say about it — except that this book certainly has a different feel than some of Brown’s other works. Again, this is a profoundly lyrical work, and the writing comes across as more refined than in Brown’s writing in the past. I would caution readers not to get too invested in some of its main characters, too, as the odd one will not make it to the novel’s conclusion. As noted, this novel is built on gristle and bone. Violence was king in West Virginia in the early 1920s, and you can bet rivers of blood will run, given that a million bullets were shot in this confrontation.
I suppose that I’m on the fence when it comes to this work. I respect Brown and am in awe that he’s made a career out of the genre he writes in, which is not always an easy sell. I appreciate that Brown is trying to spotlight a segment of American history that has been largely forgotten. But I found that, despite all the beatings and shootings that can be found here, there were lulls and stretches where a sharper editor could have done some pruning. While some of the gore is hinted at, and what there is on the page is probably needed to explain just how awful this conflict indeed was (with Americans killing other Americans in large numbers outside of the Civil War), it does get wearing and tiresome that there’s seemingly no end to this brawl in sight throughout the novel. It’s a bloody mess, and Brown makes his point early enough to make one wonder if the story might have worked better as a novella. Still, this is all griping because there is value in this tale not often told. While I can’t help but wonder if Rednecks will probably polarize readers depending on their tolerance for shrapnel bomb victim injuries being described in detail, this is a worthwhile read if you can stomach injustice and carnage in equal measure. This is an important book — perhaps Brown’s most important book – and those who come along for the ride are bound to find something of worth here. For that, I suspect I’ll be approached by a publicist again when Brown publishes his next book. Given the pedigree and solid nature of his writing, I’ll be eternally grateful for that. Rednecksis is not just another Taylor Brown book; it is vital and worth reading to discover the hidden truths of American justice and the imbalance of power. In short, this is worth a try.
Taylor Brown’s Rednecks was published by St. Martin’s Press on May 14, 2024.
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Get in touch: zacharyhoule@rogers.com
