The Most They Ever Had
Audio only

The Most They Ever Had

By Rick BraggRecorded Track
Length4h 16m

About this audiobook

In the spring of 2001, a community of people in the Appalachian foothills had come to the edge of all they had ever been. Now they stood looking down, bitter, angry, afraid. Across the South, padlocks and logging chains bound the doors of silent mills, and it seemed a miracle to blue-collar people in Jacksonville, Alabama, that their mill still bit, shook, and roared. The century-old hardwood floors still trembled under whirling steel, and people worked on, in a mist of white air. The mill had become almost a living thing, rewarding the hardworking and careful with the best payday they ever had but punishing the careless and clumsy, taking a finger, a hand, or more. The mill was here before the automobile, before the flying machine, and they served it even as it filled their lungs with lint and shortened their lives. In return, it let them live in stiff-necked dignity in the hills of their fathers. So when death did come, no one had to ship a body home on a train. This is a mill story—not of bricks, steel, and cotton—but of the people who suffered in it to live.

Audiobook details

Rating★★★★ 4.4 (2.8K)
Includes Goodreads, Amazon
GenreHistory, Business and Economics
Length4 hrs 16 mins
Narrated byRecorded Track
FormatAudiobook
Publish dateOct 7, 2009
LanguageEnglish

More from Rick Bragg

The Gulag Archipelago Volume 3
The Gulag Archipelago Volume 3Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn21h 56m4.7 (8.9K)$46 · $0.00
Pearl of Great Price
Pearl of Great PriceJoseph Smith3h 8m4.7 (7.2K)$1.20 · $0.00
The Redeemer’s Return
The Redeemer’s ReturnArthur W. Pink13h 18m4.7 (589)$20
The Happiest Man on Earth
The Happiest Man on EarthEddie Jaku3h 48m4.6 (178K)$7 · $0.00
Motherland
MotherlandJulia Ioffe17h 52m4.7 (2.5K)$40 · $0.00
Where Cowards Go to Die
Where Cowards Go to DieBenjamin Sledge8h 42m4.7 (351)$20 · $0.00
The Bark Canoes and Skin Boats of North America (Annotated)
The Bark Canoes and Skin Boats of North America (Annotated)Howard Irving Chapelle, Tappan Adney13h 9m4.8 (150)$1.99 · $0.00
Revolutionaries
RevolutionariesSanjeev Sanyal11h 23m4.6 (2.6K)$29 · $0.00
We Crossed a Bridge and It Trembled
We Crossed a Bridge and It TrembledWendy Pearlman6h4.6 (5.2K)$24 · $0.00
Unbroken Bonds of Battle
Unbroken Bonds of BattleJohnny Joey Jones8h 31m4.6 (2.6K)$8 · $0.00
The Daughter of Auschwitz
The Daughter of AuschwitzTova Friedman, Malcolm Brabant7h 54m4.6 (16.7K)$26 · $0.00
Lily's Promise
Lily's PromiseLily Ebert, Dov Forman8h 54m4.6 (16.1K)$29 · $0.00
Saving My Enemy
Saving My EnemyBob Welch9h 11m4.6 (2.3K)$20
On Democracies and Death Cults
On Democracies and Death CultsDouglas Murray10h 38m4.6 (6.5K)$29 · $0.00
Across the River
Across the RiverKent Babb11h 40m4.6 (927)$29 · $0.00
The Red Record (Annotated)
The Red Record (Annotated)Ida B. Wells-Barnett5h 19m4.8 (102)$1.99 · $0.00
Balcony Over Jerusalem: A Middle East Memoir - Israel, Palestine and Beyond
Balcony Over Jerusalem: A Middle East Memoir - Israel, Palestine and BeyondJohn Lyons12h 37m4.6 (1.4K)$33 · $0.00
The Fire Next Time
The Fire Next TimeJames Baldwin2h 25m4.6 (159.1K)$15
Endurance
EnduranceAlfred Lansing6h 1m4.6 (40.8K)$20
Beyond
BeyondStephen Walker15h 39m4.6 (3.2K)$33 · $0.00
The Business of Stories
The Business of StoriesSusan Payton3h 58m4.9 (111)$20 · $0.00
A Bridge Not Too Far
A Bridge Not Too FarDeepak Ohri4h 55m4.8 (179)$15
Areté
AretéBrian Johnson19h 57m4.7 (2.2K)$35
Testtrainer Logisches Denken
Testtrainer Logisches DenkenGRETA CRENSHAW10h 11m4.8 (121)$12.50 · $0.00
Level Up
Level UpRob Dial7h 42m4.6 (3.3K)$26 · $0.00
Hal Moore on Leadership
Hal Moore on LeadershipHarold G. Moore, Mike Guardia5h 6m4.6 (2.7K)$17
Basic Economics, Fifth Edition
Basic Economics, Fifth EditionThomas Sowell28h 6m4.5 (30.1K)$40
The Goals Program
The Goals ProgramZig Ziglar4h 34m4.6 (2.3K)$20
The Stocks & ETF Compass: A Guide to Wealth, High Standard of Living, and Secure Retirement through Intelligent Investment in the Stock Market and Passive Income – Including Starter Guide
The Stocks & ETF Compass: A Guide to Wealth, High Standard of Living, and Secure Retirement through Intelligent Investment in the Stock Market and Passive Income – Including Starter GuideJens Hattermann4h 9m4.9 (41)$20 · $0.00
Eat It!
Eat It!Jordan Syatt, Michael Vacanti4h 40m4.6 (1.5K)$20 · $0.00
Progress and Poverty, Volumes I and II (Annotated)
Progress and Poverty, Volumes I and II (Annotated)Henry George19h 21m4.6 (574)$1.99 · $0.00
Not Everything Counts but Everything Matters: The powerful and inspirational new book about leadership and achieving success from the visionary multi-premiership winning Panthers coach
Not Everything Counts but Everything Matters: The powerful and inspirational new book about leadership and achieving success from the visionary multi-premiership winning Panthers coachIvan Cleary6h 1m4.6 (680)$24 · $0.00
Leads Machine
Leads MachineFrancis Rodino6h 30m4.9 (39)$27 · $0.00
Build
BuildTony Fadell11h 5m4.5 (14.3K)$8 · $0.00
The Joys Of Compounding
The Joys Of CompoundingGautam Baid17h 34m4.5 (2.5K)$18 · $0.00
The Entrepreneur Roller Coaster
The Entrepreneur Roller CoasterDarren Hardy7h 8m4.5 (5.2K)$17
Poor Charlie’s Almanack
Poor Charlie’s AlmanackGrover Gardener, Charles T. Munger13h 9m4.5 (24.7K)$18 · $0.00
The Ambuja Story
The Ambuja StoryNarotam Sekhsaria13h 59m4.5 (830)$33 · $0.00
Military Culture Shift
Military Culture ShiftCorie Weathers13h 13m4.7 (120)$25 · $0.00
The Secret Door to Success
The Secret Door to SuccessFlorence Scovel Shinn2h 25m4.5 (2.1K)$1.20 · $0.00

You may also like

Slave Narratives
Slave NarrativesUnited States. Work Projects Administration3h 15m4.2 (390)$1 · $0.00
A Living Remedy
A Living RemedyNicole Chung5h 59m4.2 (10.4K)$8 · $0.00
Véra
VéraStacy Schiff18h 14m3.9 (1.4K)$28 · $0.00
Let Me Be Frank With You
Let Me Be Frank With YouRichard Ford6h 23m3.7 (8.6K)$24 · $0.00
Shadows on the Rock
Shadows on the RockWilla Cather8h 33m4.1 (6.7K)$2 · $0.00
Driving to Treblinka
Driving to TreblinkaDiana Wichtel7h 46m4.2 (353)$25 · $0.00
Feather Crowns
Feather CrownsBobbie Ann Mason19h 45m3.8 (1.2K)$40 · $0.00
Hotel Honolulu
Hotel HonoluluPaul Theroux16h 13m3.6 (3K)$33 · $0.00
Patrimony
PatrimonyPhilip Roth5h 42m4.3 (7.1K)$20 · $0.00
A Clergyman's Daughter
A Clergyman's DaughterEric Arthur Blair11h 44m3.7 (17K)$1 · $0.00
The Angel on the Roof
The Angel on the RoofRussell Banks17h 54m4.0 (1.5K)$40 · $0.00
Everyman
EverymanPhilip Roth4h 8m3.7 (27.7K)$15
A Clergyman's Daughter (Annotated)
A Clergyman's Daughter (Annotated)George Orwell12h 5m3.6 (39K)$2 · $0.00
The History of Mary Prince, a West Indian Slave (Voices From The Past Series) (Annotated)
The History of Mary Prince, a West Indian Slave (Voices From The Past Series) (Annotated)Mary Prince3h 36m3.8 (3.6K)$2 · $0.00
Death In The Woods and Other Stories
Death In The Woods and Other StoriesAlfred Andersen6h 4m$2.30
Grisha and Other Short Stories
Grisha and Other Short StoriesAnton Chekhov2h 37m3.3 (59)$2.30
Memoirs of Joseph Grimaldi (Annotated)
Memoirs of Joseph Grimaldi (Annotated)Joseph Grimaldi14h 17m$2 · $0.00
Many Have Pictures Like This
Many Have Pictures Like ThisCarey Bagdassarian3h 11m$15
The Acadian Exiles : a Chronicle of the Land of Evangeline
The Acadian Exiles : a Chronicle of the Land of EvangelineArthur G. Sir Doughty4h 32m3.9 (23)$2 · $0.00
Hawthorne and His Circle
Hawthorne and His CircleJulian Hawthorne10h 30m3.2 (11)$2 · $0.00