Night comes to the Cumberlands
by Harry M. Caudill · first published 1962
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Caudill explores the southern Appalachian Mountains area's history, from its first settlement to the Civil War, and from the rise of coal barons to the economic despair of the 1950s and 1960s.
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…able to experience any real free market for labor. One that comes to mind is miners, who often develop highly-specialized skills and live in areas with few other opportunities (I can highly recommend Night Comes to the Cumberlands by Henry Caudill if you’re interested in the details). I’m not sure if gig economy workers are in exactly the same boat, but be skeptical of free market claims when it comes to labor.
on “California appeals court rules Uber, Lyft must reclassify drivers as employees” ↗WV resident here. (Northern Panhandle) Anyone interesting some history of coal country, a great book is "Night Comes to the Cumberlands: A Biography of a Depressed Area" By Harry M. Caudill. Published 1962. https://www.amazon.com/Night-Comes-Cumberlands-Biography-Dep... https://archive.org/stream/nightcomestocumb1963caud/nightcom...…
on “What Happened with West Virginia’s Blockchain Voting Experiment?” ↗Massive coal mining employment was gone by 1962. Read "Night Comes to the Cumberlands". Most US coal comes from strip mining in Wyoming.
on “Predictions of massive job losses to automation miss data that show the opposite” ↗…McCormick reaper.[1] Farm employment dropped by half between 1900 and 1930. Production up. Wheat cheaper. Coal mining from 1950-1970. Production up. Coal cheaper. Employment way down. Classic book, "Night Comes to the Cumberlands" (1963) on how Appalachia became really poor. [1] https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-resources/teacher-reso...
on “People Loved the Dot-Com Boom. The A.I. Boom, Not So Much” ↗