Catching History Before It's Forgotten w. ELIZABETH CATTE

Episode 26

Elizabeth Catte is a historian and writer based in Staunton, Virginia. She is the author of What You Are Getting Wrong About Appalachia and the co-editor of 55 Strong: Inside the West Virginia Teachers' Strike. Her writing has also appeared in Belt magazine, the Guardian, the Nation, Salon, and the Boston Review. She's the director of Passel, a historical consulting company, and an editor for West Virginia University Press.

Discussed In This Episode

Donald Tr*&p and J.D. Vance. "These are not just mistakes; this is a pattern." "A Message to the Future of Appalachia." Blogging into a book deal. Readers writing you about their pain. Elaine McMillion Sheldon. "Coal Is Dying—Coal Country Doesn't Have To." Eugenics. Media narratives of Appalachia. Setting your terms with publications. Protecting your rep. Passing the mic. "I've gotten very used to being poor." How to accidentally become a public historian. Writing with (not against) your emotions. The West Virginia teachers' strike. Reconsidering your history lessons. The possibilities you can't even imagine yet. "I think we all need to do all the work we can do right now with incredible urgency." Writing is rewriting. Catching history before it's forgotten. Pulling the strings left in your work. 

Recommended Reading

What You Are Getting Wrong About Appalachia, Elizabeth Catte
"Passive, poor and white? What People Keep Getting Wrong About Appalachia," Elizabeth Catte
 

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