PINNICK KINNICK HILL: AN AMERICAN STORY

Foreword

MOUNTAINEERS iv Foreword With humor and frankness, Pinnick Kinnick Hill, an American Story paints a picture of a community of Spanish immigrants pursuing the American dream in an early twentieth-century West Virginia mill town. It is a story of struggle and disappointment, but ultimately one of resilience, cooperation, and one man’s discovery of America. The West Virginia University Press is particularly fortunate to have received the manuscript for Pinnick Kinnick Hill, an American Storyfrom the late author’s son, Thomas González. The scholars to whom it was first sent for academic review highly praised its depiction of life in West Virginia’s Spanish community as a document without parallel, and our editors noted the positive spirit which continuously radiates from Mr. González’s narrative, not least when he describes the most difficult events his community faced. The book is partly a memoir, partly a history, and partly a novel, all combined in a sometimes heartwarming and sometimes bittersweet celebration of how one small Spanish community survived and then prospered in the ethnic caldron that was America. We think that this is an important story for Americans of all backgrounds, but especially for those whose ancestors belonged to Spanish-speaking communities . For that reason, we have translated the author’s English narrative into the Spanish this Asturian community might have used. The very pages of Pinnick Kinnick Hill, an American Story swing between English and Spanish, and recall the balance required to keep ethnic identities alive. Patrick W. Conner, Director West Virginia University Press ...