Cultural historian Jeff Biggers takes us to the dark amphitheatre ruins of his family's nearly 200-year-old hillside homestead that has been strip-mined on the edge of the first federally recognized Wilderness Site in southern Illinois. In doing so, he not only comes to grips with his own denied backwoods heritage, but also chronicles a dark and missing chapter in the American experience: the historical nightmare of coal outside of Appalachia, serving as an expos' of a secret legacy of shame and resiliency.

Jeff Biggers is the American Book Award-winning author of The United States of Appalachia and In the Sierra Madre. He has worked as a writer, radio correspondent and educator across the United States, Europe, India and Mexico. His award-winning stories have appeared on National Public Radio, Public Radio International and in numerous magazines and newspapers, including the Washington Post, the Nation, the Atlantic Monthly, and Salon, among others. He splits his time between Tucson and Illinois. His website is: www.jeffbiggers.com