Daily Archives: January 24, 2020

Filling In Details with Historical Fiction

Mary Doria Russell‘s fictional story of Michigan’s Copper Country strike that took place overBook covernine months in 1913 – 1914 is painful, violent, riveting and somehow triumphant. The strike was led by Annie Clements, the wife of a miner, who became known as the Joan of Arc of America. The Women of the Copper Country is mainly her story but as the title suggests, it is the story of all the women. They led unbelievably difficult lives, often beaten by their alcoholic husbands and thrown out of their company homes with their children when those husbands died in the mines. But, they managed to make something out of nothing, sharing whatever they had and often going hungry themselves.

Russell’s prose is rich with details, pulling us into miners’ shacks and millionaires’ mansions as she recreates this pivotal time in labor history. It is difficult sometimes for us to realize just how courageous these early protesters were to suggest that they had rights. Russell depicts the coldness of the bosses and upper class towards the workers, their belief in their superiority by reason of birth, and the casual violence they dispense to protect their profits.

Russell stays close to the historical events while providing information about larger history and personalities related to labor strikes. Mother Jones makes an appearance along with Ella Reeve Bloor. But it is the stories of the people of Calumet, focused on Annie, that brings that history alive. Their feelings, their daily struggles, their dreams of a better life. The writer of historical fiction is able to create the specific out of the general in a way that allows us to learn history and connect with the humans who lived it.

And, Clements’ maiden name was Klobuchar!