William T. Vollmann - No Good Alternative: Volume Two of Carbon Ideologies

You Bright and Risen Angels (1987)

The Rainbow Stories (1989)

The Ice-Shirt (1990)

Whores for Gloria (1991)

Thirteen Stories and Thirteen Epitaphs (1991)

An Afghanistan Picture Show (1992)

Fathers and Crows (1992)

Butterfly Stories (1993)

The Rifles (1994)

The Atlas (1996)

The Royal Family (2000)

Argall (2001)

Rising Up and Rising Down: Some Thoughts on Violence, Freedom and Urgent Means (2003)

Europe Central (2005)

Uncentering the Earth: Copernicus and the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres (2006)

Poor People (2007)

Riding Toward Everywhere (2008)

Imperial (2009)

Imperial: A Book of Photographs (2009)

Kissing the Mask: Beauty, Understatement and Femininity in Japanese Noh Theater (2010)

The Book of Dolores (2013)

Last Stories and Other Stories (2014)

The Dying Grass (2015)

Carbon Ideologies, Volume I: No Immediate Danger (2018)

MAPS

Appalachian Places Mentioned /

Weld County Places Mentioned /

Oklahoma Places Mentioned /

Gulf Places Mentioned /

ILLUSTRATIONS

Coal: Appalachia

Leaky natural gas assemblage in Kanawha State Forest, near Charleston, West Virginia /

Roadside view of a West Virginia coal mine (near Barrett) /

Ukrainian coal miners, memorialized in the Moscow subway /

God Bless the West Virginia Coal Miner! On the grounds of the statehouse in Charleston. /

Montcoal. This eponymous locality was one more monument to coal. It happened to be the site of the Upper Big Branch accident. /

West Virginian toy cat cast from coal dust and resin, McDowell County /

Coal Street Pub, Gallup, New Mexico /

Pastor Bob Blevins, Bradshaw Mountain, West Virginia /

Banner on main street of Sylvester, West Virginia /

West Virginia Coal Festival in Madison, 2013 and 2014 /

John E. Amos coal-fired power plant, Nitro, West Virginia /

Up the road from the Talon Loadouts ambulance entrance /

Monument to victims of the Buffalo Creek Flood, Kistler, West Virginia /

Mrs. Glenna Wiley, Kistler /

Coal stove, at the Kentucky Coal Miners Museum /

The Powelton mine, near Lorado, West Virginia /

Loaded coal train at the Powelton mine /

Coal House, Williamson, West Virginia. It is built mostly out of coal. /

Historical coal camp marker in Lynch, Kentucky /

Detail from the Upper Big Branch memorial, Whitesville, West Virginia /

Informal Upper Big Branch memorial, Montcoal, West Virginia /

Mrs. Patricia Wheeler, Lesage, West Virginia /

A Kentucky stripper job /

Welcome to Benham, Harlan County, Kentucky /

Mr. Stanley Sturgill /

Where the top of Cook Mountain used to be (near Twilight, West Virginia). The thin line of trees on the left screens the Cook family graves. /

How they improved Cook Cemetery /

Mary Cooks two headstones /

The moonscape as seen from the pretty good reclaim of Cook Mountain /

What Jim Justice left us: the view down into Virginia /

Closeup of the same /

NO MTR sign, United Presbyterian Church, Charleston, West Virginia /

Streambank eroded (according to Chad Cordell) by mountaintop removal. Note exposed tree-roots. /

Glimpse of mountaintop removal mine (enlarged detail) /

Mr. Chad Cordell /

Parking lot wall in Williamson, West Virginia /

Friends of Coal Miners at the West Virginia Coal Festival. FOC was a nonprofit public-advocacy group intended to educate West Virginia citizens about the coal industry and its vital role in the states future. In the upper left we see mention of one of FOCs sponsors: Bucci, Bailey & Javins LC. Bailey was Tim Bailey. /

Downtown Iaeger, West Virginia /

A sign of the times in Madison, West Virginia /

The man in Bradshaw, West Virginia /

Sterlings Drive-In, Welch, West Virginia /

Retail store in McDowell County, West Virginia /

House in downtown Welch /

Funeral home, McDowell County /

Welch panorama /

Barney and Jackie Frazier on the deck of their home near Charleston. The MTR mine is visible at Mr. Fraziers right shoulder. /

Americana at the West Virginia Coal Festival /

Doorway in Williamson /

Veterans and kin at the West Virginia Coal Festival /

If You Dont Like Coal Dont Use Electricity (Harlan County, Kentucky). The license plate reads Friends of Coal and Coal Keeps the Lights On! /

Mr. Daniel Phillips, Mountain View High School, near Welch /

Another Kentucky stripper job, not stopped by God /

Regardless of the price of oil: billboard in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, 2016 /

See 3 Things God Cannot Do! West Virginia Coal Festival /

Message from the Greenwood Church of God, southern West Virginia /

Coal: Bangladesh

Some members of the Barapukuria Workers Union. In the top photo, President Rabiul Islam Rabi is at lower right; his likeness appears on all the posters on the wall. /

Monument to the three shaheeds, Phulbari. Nakeeb is on the right. /

Mr. Mohammed Aminul Islam Bablu, Phulbari /

Business under the mine conveyor, Barapukuria /

Mr. Zhang Wen, Barapukuria Coal Mine /

Top of the second shaft /

Extracted coal on the premises /

Brick kilns along the Turag River, north of Dhaka /

Messgrs SYC brick kiln, north of Dhaka /

Workers at the same establishment. The woman with the whisk broom

Coal barges and unloaded coal, Dhaka /

Fracking and Natural Gas: Colorado, West Virginia, United Arab Emirates

A frack pad in Greeley, Colorado, photographed in July 2015. Unless otherwise noted, all photos in this chapter were taken in Weld County. /

Billboard for frackin hot safety apparel /