Holding the Line Audiobook By Barbara Kingsolver cover art

Holding the Line

Women in the Great Arizona Mine Strike of 1983

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Holding the Line

By: Barbara Kingsolver
Narrated by: Barbara Kingsolver, Jennifer Jill Araya
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About this listen

Holding the Line, Barbara Kingsolver's first nonfiction book, is the story of women's lives transformed by an a signal event. Set in the small mining towns of Arizona, it is part oral history and part social criticism, exploring the process of empowerment that occurs when people work together as a community. Like Kingsolver's award-winning novels, Holding the Line is a beautifully written book grounded on the strength of its characters.

Hundreds of families held the line in the 1983 strike against Phelps Dodge Copper in Arizona. After more than a year, the strikers lost their union certification, but the battle permanently altered the social order in these small, predominantly Hispanic mining towns. At the time the strike began, many women said they couldn't leave the house without their husband's permission. Yet, when injunctions barred union men from picketing, their wives and daughters turned out for the daily picket lines. When the strike dragged on and men left to seek jobs elsewhere, women continued to picket, organize support, and defend their rights even when the towns were occupied by the National Guard. "Nothing can ever be the same as it was before," said Diane McCormick of the Morenci Miners Women's Auxiliary. "Look at us. At the beginning of this strike, we were just a bunch of ladies."

Cover design by Kat Dalton

©1989; 1996 by Barbara Kingsolver (P)2020 Audible, Inc.
Americas Gender Studies Labor & Industrial Relations Politics & Government Social Sciences State & Local United States Marriage Nonfiction Arizona Mining
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All stars
Most relevant  
I Like the
journalistic styke. I which it was presented
Also Barbara. Kings older as a narrator was great.

the incredible women behind the .minors strike.

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What amazing women - the miners, the wives, the author. This is a great, true story - and timely now.

Brutal and inspiring

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This book surprised me. I tried it because I love the author. She opened my eyes to the need for unions and the key roles women can play.

Who knew? I am glad I know now

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This is a painfully relevant bit of history well told. It echoes my own life long experience of how "empowerment" really works and how it threatens the status quo. We need unions now more than ever as corporations have gained even more power over the lives of larger parts of the population. Recommended.

Amazing story that gives voice to the women

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I just couldn’t grasp the reason for the strike, so I had a hard time sympathizing with the strikers.

Didn’t finish - not interested

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