IN DECEMBER 2021, BETTE MIDLER’S ANGER TOWARD Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia prompted the singer to tweet that his state was “poor, illiterate and strung out.” Though Midler later apologized, she was only saying out loud what far too many people on the left already believe. Dismal views of rural America—as places of inexorable decline, few job opportunities, and rampant drug abuse—are commonplace among liberal pundits. Some, such as Paul Krugman, express sympathy for the plight of rural communities but contend that “nobody knows how to reverse” their downward trajectory.
Brandon Dennison knows how. He came back home to West Virginia after finishing college, determined to help spark an economic transition in the southern part of a state long dependent on the coal industry.
Founded in 2010, his Coalfield Development now…
You're reading a preview of
The Nation (Digital) - 1 Issue, June 2024