Twilight in Hazard Audiobook By Alan Maimon cover art

Twilight in Hazard

An Appalachian Reckoning

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Twilight in Hazard

By: Alan Maimon
Narrated by: Johnny Heller
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When Alan Maimon got the assignment in 2000 to report on life in rural Eastern Kentucky, his editor at the Louisville Courier-Journal told him to cover the region "like a foreign correspondent would."

And indeed, when Maimon arrived in Hazard, Kentucky, fresh off a reporting stint for the New York Times's Berlin bureau, he felt every bit the outsider. He had landed in a place in the vice grip of ecological devastation and a corporate-made opioid epidemic - a place where vote-buying and drug-motivated political assassinations were the order of the day.

While reporting on the intense religious allegiances, the bitter, bare-knuckled political rivalries, and the faltering attempts to emerge from a century-long coal-based economy, Maimon learns that everything - and nothing - you have heard about the region is true. And far from being a foreign place, it is a region whose generations-long struggles are driven by quintessentially American forces.

Resisting the easy cliches, Maimon's Twilight in Hazard gives us a profound understanding of the region from his years of careful reporting.

©2021 Alan Maimon (P)2021 Tantor Americas Sociology State & Local United States

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Fascinating, eye opening, sad, heart-warming and at times funny. Written by a master storyteller.

Fascinating

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I appreciate that this wasn’t just another Appalachian hit piece. I was born in Hazard, and am very sensitive to the writings of those who visit for two weeks and dub themselves experts on all things Appalachia. What I did not like was the injection of the authors personal political leanings. The first half of the book was good journalism, something no longer in existence, or at least very hard to find. At times, I wanted to cheer! The second half was the typical, Trump hating rhetoric. I’m sorry if the Trump signs at Giovanni’s ruined the authors appetite for Pizza. I had to skip over several chapters for fear my ears would be damaged from hearing a TDS temper tantrum. Maybe that’s how authors get published now. TDS or conservative Christian people must be bashed. I thought the left was all about acceptance and inclusion and tolerance. Ha!

I DO BELIEVE, however, the author truly has an ability to see both sides. He’s good. Great even.

The performance was robotic. Many names were mispronounced.

I appreciated the compassion for Appalachian people.

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If you get a chance to read or listen to this book, by all mean, do.
It is a wonderful outside/inside perspective on East Kentucky, particularly the Hazard area.

Written by a Pulitzer Prize nominated reporter, who spent 20-years living in Hazard, KY and is married to a local hazard woman- this book gives an in depth look into the region.

Unlike J.D. Vance’s “Hillbilly Elegy”, the author does not claim to be a “Hillbilly”.
Although, Vance never lived in Kentucky and this Author did; Maimon viewed his time in the region as though he were a foreigner correspondent in another country, attempting to understand and learn from its people, not make assumptions about them.
It’s quite enjoyable.

A view of the region, with a desire to learn and understand.

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Basic democratic campaign slogan. Very left wing and judgmental. I was raised in hazard and the author twisted and turned reality

So left wing

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Tells a very myopic version of life in south eastern Kentucky for the first four chapters. After chapter 4 rambles on with clear political bias and goes off topic.

Off track after chapter 4

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It’s enunciated ‘Apple shop, like an apple, meaning to be be clever and play on the word Appalachia. If you were a good reporter or writer, you would have known that. You were probably scared of the people there and stayed in your hotel room. People in Eastern Kentucky are forgotten lives. This is badly written and does not do justice to the communities. A very poor depiction of poor people trying to survive. Did you go in a holler and meet real country folk? I know you didn’t and that’s ok because you can’t change something you don’t understand.

If you’re going to report, get to know the people. Not smart, who hired this guy?

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I had high hopes for this book…. I was excited to hear from someone who I understood had firsthand knowledge and firsthand long term life experience of a beautiful part of my beloved state to which many Kentuckians are not exposed. Unfortunately, the “journalist” who was “reporting” on the social and political climate of the area, was so clouded by his own personal far left leaning bias that I chose not to finish the book. The book is a tragedy for the area that so needs an unbiased perspective to help garner the attention of the rest of the proud citizens of this great Commonwealth. The commitment of the Appalachians to the traditions of our country’s forefathers should be a challenge to all Americans who love God and Country.

Don’t waste your time

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