Italian professor's oral history of Harlan County, Kentucky, gets Appalachian literature award

A book detailing oral histories of Harlan County, Kentucky, from an Italian historian is being honored as the best Appalachian book of 2011. They Say in Harlan County was written after more than 25 years of study in the county by Alessandro Portelli, a professor of American literature at the University of Roma-La Sapienza. It was selected by Berea College and the Appalachian Studies Association for the Willis Weatherford Award for nonfiction. The awards, which also honor fiction and poetry, go to a book "which in its year best illuminates the challenges, personalities, and unique qualities of the Appalachian South," the award's criteria say.

"More than 150 men and women from the region share their stories of the area, telling tales from the pioneer times, the coal mining strikes of the 1930s and 1970s, and on up to the present," Joshua Brock of the Harlan Daily Enterprise reports. Dr. William Turner, distinguished professor of Appalachian studies and regional ambassador at Berea, said "Portelli presents the people of Harlan much like [Harold] Pinter did in his dramas. He begins by painting them on a deeply etched historical canvas in colorful detail. He allows the strong people of Harlan to speak — in their own words — about how they were pitted in strong conflict against themselves and in struggle against powerful economic and social forces." (Read more)