The importance of this book means a great deal to me. Speaking as a woman who has grown up in the state where the most important
events in the book took place; I understand that this book is more than just simple politics.
Showing the miner's struggle, while also showing the coal operators turmoil represented both sides quite equally. Based upon true events Storming Heaven shows a very up front and realistic view of how simple politics and greed can effect an entire state of people. The very blatant sense of hate toward all things associated with coal compies was represented very well through the characters and their will to survive against all odds and their refusal to be looked upon as ignorant, uneducated, and undeserving people in this world. The people from the Appalachin Mountains are not all shoeless hillbillies and those who are had no choice but to be that way. Most of our poverty stricted state was made up of families who were victims of circumstance, either send the children to school where they'll learn nothing that'll further help put food on the table or send them to work in the desperate hope that you'll be able to recieve a
paycheck and not just a piece of paper with a line through it, showing that you are still in debt to the company and will yet again not be recieving a paycheck. By writing this book, Denise Giardinia painted a very vivid portrait of exactly what the news never showed you in the early to mid 1900s. She showed the struggles of the hard workers, forced to go without simply because their was no other choice. The message that this book represents is best summed up by a quote from Loretta Lynn's biography, Coal Miner's Daughter. "If you're born in the mountains, you only got three choices; coal mine, moon shine, or movin' on down the line."