Twilight in Hazard

An Appalachian Reckoning

By: Alan Maimon

Narrated by: Johnny Heller

When Alan Maimon got the assignment in 2000 to report on life in rural Eastern Kentucky, his editor at the Louisville Courier-Journal told him to cover the region "like a foreign correspondent would."

And indeed, when Maimon arrived in Hazard, Kentucky, fresh off a reporting stint for the New York Times's Berlin bureau, he felt every bit the outsider. He had landed in a place in the vice grip of ecological devastation and a corporate-made opioid epidemic - a place where vote-buying and drug-motivated political assassinations were the order of the day.

While reporting on the intense religious allegiances, the bitter, bare-knuckled political rivalries, and the faltering attempts to emerge from a century-long coal-based economy, Maimon learns that everything - and nothing - you have heard about the region is true. And far from being a foreign place, it is a region whose generations-long struggles are driven by quintessentially American forces.

Resisting the easy cliches, Maimon's Twilight in Hazard gives us a profound understanding of the region from his years of careful reporting.

©2021 Alan Maimon (P)2021 Tantor

Fascinating

Fascinating, eye opening, sad, heart-warming and at times funny. Written by a master storyteller.

I appreciated the compassion for Appalachian people.

I appreciate that this wasn’t just another Appalachian hit piece. I was born in Hazard, and am very sensitive to the writings of those who visit for two weeks and dub themselves experts on all things Appalachia. What I did not like was the injection of the authors personal political leanings. The first half of the book was good journalism, something no longer in existence, or at least very hard to find. At times, I wanted to cheer! The second half was the typical, Trump hating rhetoric. I’m sorry if the Trump signs at Giovanni’s ruined the authors appetite for Pizza. I had to skip over several chapters for fear my ears would be damaged from hearing a TDS temper tantrum. Maybe that’s how authors get published now. TDS or conservative Christian people must be bashed. I thought the left was all about acceptance and inclusion and tolerance. Ha!

I DO BELIEVE, however, the author truly has an ability to see both sides. He’s good. Great even.

The performance was robotic. Many names were mispronounced.

A view of the region, with a desire to learn and understand.

If you get a chance to read or listen to this book, by all mean, do.
It is a wonderful outside/inside perspective on East Kentucky, particularly the Hazard area.

Written by a Pulitzer Prize nominated reporter, who spent 20-years living in Hazard, KY and is married to a local hazard woman- this book gives an in depth look into the region.

Unlike J.D. Vance’s “Hillbilly Elegy”, the author does not claim to be a “Hillbilly”.
Although, Vance never lived in Kentucky and this Author did; Maimon viewed his time in the region as though he were a foreigner correspondent in another country, attempting to understand and learn from its people, not make assumptions about them.
It’s quite enjoyable.

So left wing

Basic democratic campaign slogan. Very left wing and judgmental. I was raised in hazard and the author twisted and turned reality

Off track after chapter 4

Tells a very myopic version of life in south eastern Kentucky for the first four chapters. After chapter 4 rambles on with clear political bias and goes off topic.