Nick DeBussey
Just Work
Hidden America
In the book Hidden America Jeanne Marie Laskas goes around to jobs that most
Americans sweep under the rug and shadow want they do and how the world treats
them. The book looks into the life of coal miners one of the most hidden jobs in the
world. The book goes from the mines all the way to being a cowboys cheerleader. Every
single one of the jobs pick had what the author called a violent side to them but only
some had found meaning in what they do.
In the chapter based on coal miners the book points out to us that not only are
the miners unseen from us doing their work but also rather overlooked or not looked at
by everyone everyday that uses something that depends on coal like electricity
generation and steel production. Most of the miners that said the motivation behind
them working in the mines was it is a good paying jobs and they just see their work as a
way to provide for what his family needs. Not only do the people that use the benefits of
coal see the miners as not important or even forget about them this happens on the
other side. When the miners take the coal from the mines it is shipped off to somewhere
around the world that needs it and the miners don't get to see what their work is doing.
This falls under the idea that Laskas was trying to say how work is violent. Most people
would fight that this doesn't mean a job is violent but the books shows how this is
mental violence. When the miners don't get to see what their job has done or where and
what their work has turned into it makes the job have no meaning. In another chapter
talking about stonemasons Laskas sh...
