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Lädt ... Hidden America: From Coal Miners To Cowboys, An Extraordinary Exploration Of The Unseen People Who Make This Country Work (HBK w/ DJ)von Jeanne Marie Laskas
Werk-InformationenHidden America: From Coal Miners to Cowboys, an Extraordinary Exploration of the Unseen People Who Make This Country Work von Jeanne Marie Laskas
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Melde dich bei LibraryThing an um herauszufinden, ob du dieses Buch mögen würdest. Keine aktuelle Diskussion zu diesem Buch. I really enjoyed this. In the forward, the author says that the purpose of her book is to shed light on all the jobs that people do that allow us to live so comfortably. That she accomplishes this without being overly romantic or preachy is quite the feat. It definitely made me think about the people and the work they do that allows me to turn the lights on, throw the trash out, etc. with minimal hassle, but it was also an enjoyable and very human read. Laskas had often thought about the people behind the scenes, the ones who keep America supplied with products and services, the people we never seem to think about. She decided that she would choose 9 different job fields and learn what she could about the workers who fill the positions. Spending a month alongside coal miners in the Hopedale Mines in Cadiz, Ohio, turned out to be so much more than she thought before she took that first trip down into the earth on an elevator and then 6 more miles on a 'mantrip', or small train car. After the initial fear of the darkness and danger Lakas found herself strangely drawn to the lifestyle of the miners and was reluctant to leave it all behind at the end of the month. Next was a stay with migrant workers in Cherryfield, Maine, who harvested blueberries in one of the states that pays well and provides medical and education opportunites to the laborers. A visit to Cincinnati to find out about the BenGals, cheerleaders for the NFL Bengals turned out to be a fun trip but an eye-opening look at weight issues, perfect hair and makeup, and how little these girls are paid ($75 per game x 10 games = really?). A stint with air traffic controllers at LaGuardia is frightening in the amount of planes these people juggle on outdated equipment and mandatory overtime. Laskas spent time at a huge gun store in Yuma, Arizona, on a cattle ranch in Throckmorton, Texas, an oil rig on Alaska's northern slope, and riding with a female long haul trucker named Sputter through the midwest. Her last visit was at the Puente Hills Landfill in California where she learned just what it takes to handle the trash that America produces every single day. I was suprised, as was Laskas, to learn that some landfills pipe the methane gas to power stations that generate thousands of killowats of electricity to help with city power grids. Laskas seemed to enjoy every scenario that she placed herself in and that sense of adventure is evident in the book. I thoroughly enjoyed going along for the ride. keine Rezensionen | Rezension hinzufügen
This book looks at the remarkable men and women whose low-profile accomplishments contribute to the running of the nation, from coal miners and oil rig workers to migrant laborers and air traffic controllers. Five hundred feet underground, the author asked a coal miner named Smitty, "Do you think it's weird that people know so little about you?" He replied, "I don't think people know too much about the way the whole damn country works." This book intends to fix that. Like John McPhee and Susan Orlean, the author dives deep into her subjects and emerges with character-driven narratives that are gripping, funny, and revelatory. In this book the stories are about the people who make our lives run every day, and yet we barely think of them. The author spent weeks in an Ohio coal mine and on an Alaskan oil rig; in a Maine migrant labor camp, a Texas beef ranch, the air traffic control tower at New York's LaGuardia Airport, a California landfill, an Arizona gun shop, the cab of a long haul truck in Iowa, and the stadium of the Cincinnati Ben-Gals cheerleaders. Cheerleaders? Yes. They, too, are hidden America, and you will be amazed by what this book tells you about them: hidden no longer. Keine Bibliotheksbeschreibungen gefunden. |
LibraryThing Early Reviewers-AutorJeanne Marie Laskass Buch Hidden America wurde im Frührezensenten-Programm LibraryThing Early Reviewers angeboten. Aktuelle DiskussionenKeineBeliebte Umschlagbilder
Google Books — Lädt ... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)305.5Social sciences Social Sciences; Sociology and anthropology Groups of people ClassKlassifikation der Library of Congress [LCC] (USA)BewertungDurchschnitt:
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On page 7 the author insists that her own views have no place in the book, yet in the same paragraph she does just that, and it continues throughout the book. It's crystal clear which ones she disapproves of and which ones have her sympathy. This book would have benefitted greatly if we had more of the people and less of the author's voice. ( )