Appalachia is a difficult place to write about for outsiders — that is, it is hard to write about the people of Appalachia as an outsider and it is difficult to relate the realities of Appalachia to people that are unfamiliar with the region. Joseph Witt does both of these things well and his book is a welcome addition to the scholarship not only about Appalachia, but on the nuances and interplay of the socio-political intersectionalities of the people who reside in Appalachia. Witt's focus on religion and environmental concerns provides readers a window into the complexities of social issues in Appalachia by drawing attention to the regions diversity of positions and opinions about the environment, environmental degradation, and solutions to environmental problems.

The analysis in Religion and Resistance in Appalachia, centered on mountaintop removal mining (MTR), demonstrates how interconnected economic, personal, social, political, and environmental issues are in the region in ways that make Appalachia unique as a place plagued by environmental injustice. As Witt rightly asserts, citing several well-known scholars, “their considerations of the racial, class, and gender-related influences on experiences and interpretations of mountaintop removal [has] generally given less attention to the influence of religious values and institutions” (7). His use of religion as the lens through which to view these concerns is important because the role of religion in the environmental movement is still undervalued and often misunderstood by activists and scholars alike, but more importantly, religion, especially in Appalachia, must play a role in reshaping values and attitudes toward the environment if environmentally responsive social justice is to take root and successfully flourish in the region.

Witt constructs his arguments across five chapters that focus on place, service, stewardship, biocentrism, and ethical friction. Each chapter is well researched, well written, and well-paced making the reading both accessible and enjoyable. Witt strikes a good balance between the anecdotal, testimonials, and eye-witness accounts alongside solid scholarship that does not rely too heavily on professional jargon and, when such language is necessary, Witt expertly navigates his readers through explanations that do not get bogged down in the professorial. This is definitely one of the core strengths of the book because it ought to be readily comprehensible to laypersons, activists, students, and scholars alike. That is, Witt's book is a contribution not only to the scholarship on religion and environmentalism, but a contribution to the alliances that have formed in and around Appalachia, especially those centered on MTR, which should strengthen both the bonds of the various movements as well as their efforts “on the ground.” The importance of this cannot be understated since Christianity — the primary focus of Witt's work — is often at odds with social justice movements and Witt handles this tension quite well in chapter five.

While every chapter has merit, in spite of mitigating pros and cons idiosyncratic to my reading, the book as a whole is worth reading. However, the strongest chapters of the book are one and three, both of which tackle difficult issues. In chapter one, Witt provides a complete, yet streamlined, historical account of MTR in Appalachia carefully highlighting the role of religion in fomenting resistance to MTR and in bolstering activists attempts to coalesce around short and long term goals; both as individuals drawing on personal faiths and as groups, who are commonly spread too thin and face a daunting level of opposition, yet capably utilize religious maxims to deliver stinging critiques of the government and corporations that recklessly plunder Appalachia for profit. Though Witt includes a caveat to the informed reader that they may skip ahead if they are sufficiently steeped in the issues surrounding MTR, I would caution against doing so. Though some of the information may be redundant for the informed reader the narrative Witt provides helps to deepen and enrich his subsequent scholarship. In chapter three, Witt engages with the evangelical tradition focusing on a theocentric approach to environmentalism situating it in the contexts of stewardship and Creation Care as the most common religious centered environmentalisms. Though Witt convincingly argues in favor of the role of evangelicals, chapter three, in spite of being one of his best chapters, could have benefited from a more thorough teasing out of the origins of religious environmental positions along the lines J. Baird Callicott's handling of the issue in Earth's Insights. Still, as shortcomings go, it is a small oversight.

Religion and Resistance in Appalachia raises and wrestles with important questions that have no easy answers and, while Witt's conclusions may not satisfy everyone or answer fully every question, his perspective does help open up space for further, much needed, dialogue. Questions about how faiths are tethered to the land, the role of faith both in conflict and concert with environmentalism, how obligations to the community, place, and individual well-being should be, or can be, prioritized to put faith in a proper context for successfully responding to the domination of the coal industry and the destruction of MTR. Many Appalachians find themselves facing the daunting task of choosing between their faith and their socio-political needs and Witt's work helps to address those concerns without alienating activists for whom religion is not a concern. More importantly, Witt helps the latter group better understand the important role of religion in the region with an eye toward generating more effective and more successful responses to the environmental needs of Appalachian citizens and communities.