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The Power and the Glory: A Novel of Appalachia
The Power and the Glory A Novel of Appalachia Author:Grace MacGowan Cooke Originally published in 1910, 'The Power and the Glory' is a fascinating novel set in turn-of-the-century Appalachia. The page-turner centers on spirited heroine Johnnie Consadine and anticipates many contemporary feminist issues. — Embarrassed by her family's reputation for "borrowing" rather than working, Johnnie leaves her home deep in Appalac... more »hia's Unaka Mountains to take a job at a textile mill in Cottonville, Tennessee, a Chattanooga suburb. Here she challenges the unhealthy, dangerous, and brutal conditions faced by women and children laborers, exposes corporate environmental poisoning, stands up to the hypocritical middle-class ladies of the Uplift Club, invents and patents an idea for improving industrial machinery, and proposes a settlement house, utopian mine, and mill village to help women like herself.
A rollicking good read, 'The Power and the Glory' is filled with plot twists and turns that include romance, a lost silver mine, kidnapping, shoot-outs, scheming villains, a wandering chiropractor, and a dramatic automobile chase. The novel's themes of ecological feminism, social activism, gender roles, and class distinctions remain strikingly relevant for modern readers, who will revel in the adventures of a strong, intelligent, funny, and resourceful Appalachian woman.« less