Book cover of To Live Here, You Have to Fight: How Women Led Appalachian Movements for Social Justice

Book description

Launched in 1964, the War on Poverty quickly took aim at the coalfields of southern Appalachia. There, the federal government found unexpected allies among working-class white women devoted to a local tradition of citizen caregiving and seasoned by decades of activism and community service.

Jessica Wilkerson tells their stories within…

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Why read it?

1 author picked To Live Here, You Have to Fight as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Wilkerson finds feminists everywhere in the mountains of eastern Kentucky, which makes this the most geographically unexpected book on this list. By showing how women were central to many social justice movements – not only feminism but environmental justice, health care, and welfare rights – Wilkerson shows us how women truly did lead in the 1970s, in parts of the country where stereotypes suggest they shouldn’t be active at all.

From Melissa's list on U.S. grassroots feminism.

If you love To Live Here, You Have to Fight...

Ad

Book cover of December on 5C4

December on 5C4 by Adam Strassberg,

Magical realism meets the magic of Christmas in this mix of Jewish, New Testament, and Santa stories–all reenacted in an urban psychiatric hospital!

On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argue…

Want books like To Live Here, You Have to Fight?

Our community of 12,000+ authors has personally recommended 100 books like To Live Here, You Have to Fight.

Browse books like To Live Here, You Have to Fight

Book cover of Groundswell: Grassroots Feminist Activism in Postwar America
Book cover of Living for the Revolution: Black Feminist Organizations, 1968-1980
Book cover of Chicana Power!: Contested Histories of Feminism in the Chicano Movement

Share your top 3 reads of 2025!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,277

readers submitted
so far, will you?

Ad

📚 If you like To Live Here, You Have to Fight, you might also like...

Book cover of The Bridge: Connecting The Powers of Linear and Circular Thinking

The Bridge by Kim Hudson,

The Bridge provides a compassionate and well researched window into the worlds of linear and circular thinking. A core pattern to the inner workings of these two thinking styles is revealed, and most importantly, insight into how to cross the distance between them. Some fascinating features emerged such as, circular…

Book cover of And Then They Were Gone: Teenagers of Peoples Temple from High School to Jonestown

And Then They Were Gone by Judy Bebelaar,

Of the 918 Americans who died in the shocking murder-suicides of November 18, 1978, in the tiny South American country of Guyana, a third were under eighteen. More than half were in their twenties or younger.

The authors taught in a small high school in San Francisco where Reverend Jim…

5 book lists we think you will like!