Holding the Line

Women in the Great Arizona Mine Strike of 1983

By: Barbara Kingsolver

Narrated by: Barbara Kingsolver, Jennifer Jill Araya

Holding the Line, Barbara Kingsolver's first nonfiction book, is the story of women's lives transformed by an a signal event. Set in the small mining towns of Arizona, it is part oral history and part social criticism, exploring the process of empowerment that occurs when people work together as a community. Like Kingsolver's award-winning novels, Holding the Line is a beautifully written book grounded on the strength of its characters.

Hundreds of families held the line in the 1983 strike against Phelps Dodge Copper in Arizona. After more than a year, the strikers lost their union certification, but the battle permanently altered the social order in these small, predominantly Hispanic mining towns. At the time the strike began, many women said they couldn't leave the house without their husband's permission. Yet, when injunctions barred union men from picketing, their wives and daughters turned out for the daily picket lines. When the strike dragged on and men left to seek jobs elsewhere, women continued to picket, organize support, and defend their rights even when the towns were occupied by the National Guard. "Nothing can ever be the same as it was before," said Diane McCormick of the Morenci Miners Women's Auxiliary. "Look at us. At the beginning of this strike, we were just a bunch of ladies."

Cover design by Kat Dalton

©1989; 1996 by Barbara Kingsolver (P)2020 Audible, Inc.

the incredible women behind the .minors strike.

I Like the
journalistic styke. I which it was presented
Also Barbara. Kings older as a narrator was great.

Brutal and inspiring

What amazing women - the miners, the wives, the author. This is a great, true story - and timely now.

Who knew? I am glad I know now

This book surprised me. I tried it because I love the author. She opened my eyes to the need for unions and the key roles women can play.

Amazing story that gives voice to the women

This is a painfully relevant bit of history well told. It echoes my own life long experience of how "empowerment" really works and how it threatens the status quo. We need unions now more than ever as corporations have gained even more power over the lives of larger parts of the population. Recommended.

Didn’t finish - not interested

I just couldn’t grasp the reason for the strike, so I had a hard time sympathizing with the strikers.