Hidden America

From Coal Miners to Cowboys, an Extraordinary Exploration of the Unseen People Who Make This Country Work

By: Jeanne Marie Laskas

Narrated by: Jamie Heinlein

Five hundred feet underground, Jeanne Marie Laskas asked a coal miner named Smitty, “Do you think it’s weird that people know so little about you?” He replied, “I don’t think people know too much about the way the whole damn country works.”

Hidden America intends to fix that. Like John McPhee and Susan Orlean, Laskas dives deep into her subjects and emerges with character-driven narratives that are gripping, funny, and revelatory. In Hidden America, the stories are about the people who make our lives run every day—and yet we barely think of them.

Laskas spent weeks in an Ohio coal mine and on an Alaskan oil rig; in a Maine migrant labor camp, a Texas beef ranch, the air traffic control tower at New York’s LaGuardia Airport,
a California landfill, an Arizona gun shop, the cab of a long-haul truck in Iowa, and the stadium of the Cincinnati Ben-Gals cheerleaders. Cheerleaders? Yes. They, too, are hidden America, and you will be amazed by what Laskas tells you about them: hidden no longer.

TooDogs is my Father

Having this book and hearing everything you wrote about my Father TooDogs gives me that ability to have a small amount of memories come back to life! Thank you

Love it... Love her... Check out everything!!!

Would you listen to Hidden America again? Why?

Yes, already have listened to it twice now.

What other book might you compare Hidden America to and why?

50 acres and a poodle.

What does Jamie Heinlein bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Intonation and personalization.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

I loved when she worked at the gun store, and in seeing how her view points changed. I loved how she described it so much that I actually stopped and wrote it down... Shooting a gun is like one big gorgeous sneeze. I love it. So true.

Any additional comments?

I want to see more by this author. I read 50 acres and a poodle in college and have been looking for it on audio ever since. JML is a great and fantastic author who puts heart and mind and soul (and a healthy, healthy dose of humor) into her stories and writings. You simply cannot have too many of her books to offer.

Loved the stories

I learned so much from the book. So many things I did not know. The narrator was great!! I would listen to it again!

Eye opening

fascinating glympse into what seems like a underground world of what makes America survive, love it!

Perspective

An important read for those of us living in a major city, completely dependent on these people, yet having limited to no exposure in our day to day lives.