Catherine Cometti Samargo

Another Side of the Line Catherine Cometti Samargo

Another Side of the Line follows a young woman?s seven-year progression from neophyte teacher to gutsy union activist. It?s 1914, and the coal industry in southern West Virginia is a firmly entrenched hegemony, having succeeded in keeping the union out. Harassed and intimidated by strikebreakers, coal miners work in hazardous underground conditions while their families suffer economic exploitation in towns owned by coal companies. Naive outsider Sarah Jennings accepts a job teaching school in one of those towns and inadvertently stumbles upon a contentious struggle seething beneath the surface of the community?s outward calm. Two brutal murders open her inexperienced eyes to both sides of a well-defined line, and she gradually musters the nerve to join with the miners? cause. Her role in undercover activities eventually forces her into a dangerous but pivotal position in a fight for union recognition. This meticulously researched novel, depicting life in early coal camps, humanizes a crossroads in labor history and portrays an array of individual responses to adversity.