40 Patchtown - (Appalachian Writing) by Damian Dressick (Paperback)
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<p/><br></br><p><b> About the Book </b></p></br></br>Inspired by incidents during the 1922 coal strike in Pennsylvania, Dressick spent months researching the rhythms of early coal town life. Interviewing family members, he immersed himself in the coal heritage materials, many housed at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Frederick Barthelme states "Dressick is an artist to be reckoned with."<p/><br></br><p><b> Book Synopsis </b></p></br></br>Pennsylvania coal miners' strike of 1922 was both prolonged and brutal, especially in the coal patch towns surrounding Windber. Inspired by the violence and heroism of the strike, Damian Dressick spent months researching the rhythms of early coal town life. Immersing himself in coal heritage materials and interviewing retired miners and their wives, he brings us the story of Chet Pistakowski, a teen miner forced to provide for his family during one of the most brutal labor struggles in American history.<p/><br></br><p><b> From the Back Cover </b></p></br></br>A gut-wrenching tale of a coal-mining community's bitter-most failings and one Polish family's glorious rising. 40 Patchtown is evocative, haunting, told with page-turning momentum, and reveals an insider's understanding of the societal complexities that keep miners returning to the earth's dark underbelly. Damian Dressick, a talented and thoughtful writer, is the freshest voice to come out of Appalachia since Wiley Cash arrived on the literary scene. - Karen Spears Zacharias, author of Mother of Rain<p/><br></br><p><b> Review Quotes </b></p></br></br><br>Inspired by incidents during the 1922 coal strike in Pennsylvania, Dressick spent months researching the rhythms of early coal town life. Interviewing family members, retired miners, their wives, and widows, he immersed himself in the coal heritage materials, many housed at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Described by Frederick Barthelme as an artist to be reckoned with, Dressick currently teaches at Clarion University <p/><br>40 Patchtown reads like a cross between E.L. Doctorow's monumental novel Billy Bathgate and Breece Pancake's deathless story 'Hollow'--it's a work of fully imagined historical fiction that endows its characters with incandescent life, told in the unmistakable language of the early twentieth century coalfields. It pulls the neat trick of feeling bound to a highly specific time and place while simultaneously giving the impression of classic timelessness. As fine a first novel as one could hope for. Pinckney Benedict, author of Miracle Boy and Other Stories <p/><br><br><br>Deftly paced, gritty and poised, pitch perfect in its voice and historical rendering, Damian Dressick's debut novel 40 Patchtown accelerates from its opening pages with desperate energy. Set against the comfortless backdrop of the brutal 1922 coal miners' strike of Windber, Pennsylvania, the novel follows fatherless fourteen-year-old Chet Pistakowski as he struggles to support his mother and siblings in a setting dictated by violence, poverty, and manipulation. Told in lean, convincing, and clear-eyed prose, this historical and evocative coming-of-age story reveals a young man torn between family and morality, desperation and desire, circumstances and escape. James Charlesworth, author of The Patricide of George Bernard Hill<br>
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