Work Song

Work Song

by Ivan Doig
Work Song

Work Song

by Ivan Doig

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Overview

An award-winning and beloved novelist of the American West spins the further adventures of a favorite character, in one of his richest historical settings yet.

"If America was a melting pot, Butte would be its boiling point," observes Morrie Morgan, the itinerant teacher, walking encyclopedia, and inveterate charmer last seen leaving a one-room schoolhouse in Marias Coulee, the stage he stole in Ivan Doig's 2006 The Whistling Season. A decade later, Morrie is back in Montana, as the beguiling narrator of Work Song.

Lured like so many others by "the richest hill on earth," Morrie steps off the train in Butte, copper-mining capital of the world, in its jittery heyday of 1919. But while riches elude Morrie, once again a colorful cast of local characters-and their dramas-seek him out: a look-alike, sound-alike pair of retired Welsh miners; a streak-of-lightning waif so skinny that he is dubbed Russian Famine; a pair of mining company goons; a comely landlady propitiously named Grace; and an eccentric boss at the public library, his whispered nickname a source of inexplicable terror. When Morrie crosses paths with a lively former student, now engaged to a fiery young union leader, he is caught up in the mounting clash between the iron-fisted mining company, radical "outside agitators," and the beleaguered miners. And as tensions above ground and below reach the explosion point, Morrie finds a unique way to give a voice to those who truly need one.

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Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781101188330
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date: 06/29/2010
Series: Two Medicine Country
Sold by: Penguin Group
Format: eBook
Pages: 304
Sales rank: 815,993
File size: 525 KB
Age Range: 18 Years

About the Author

About The Author
Ivan Doig was born in Montana and grew up along the Rocky Mountain Front, the dramatic landscape that has inspired much of his writing. A former ranch hand, newspaperman, and magazine editor, with a Ph.D. in history, Doig is the author of nine previous novels, most recently The Whistling Season and The Eleventh Man, and three works of nonfiction, including his classic first book, the memoir This House of Sky. He has been a National Book Award finalist and has received the Wallace Stegner Award, a Distinguished Achievement Award from the Western Literature Association, and multiple PNBA and MPBA Book Awards, among other honors. He lives in Seattle.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher


“Readers who fell in love with Morrie Morgan in The Whistling Season will welcome him back to Montana in Ivan Doig’s latest adventure… Richly imagined and beautifully paced.” –The Associated Press

“Not one stitch unravels in this intricately threaded narrative… infectious.” –The New York Times Book Review

“As enjoyable and subtly thought-provoking a piece of fiction as you’re likely to pick up this summer. A pleasure to read.” –Los Angeles Times

“If you were looking for a novel that best expresses the American spirit, you’d have to ride past a lot of fence posts before finding anything as worthy as Work Song.” –Chicago Tribune

“A classic tale from they heyday of American capitalism by the king of the Western novel.” –The Daily Beast

Reading Group Guide

INTRODUCTION

A decade after he left Montana at the end of Ivan Doig's bestselling The Whistling Season, Morrie Morgan is back—this time in post-WWI Butte, the copper-mining capital of the world. When Morrie gets caught up in the mounting clash between the mining company, outside agitators, and the beleaguered miners, he finds a unique way to give a voice to those who truly need one.


ABOUT IVAN DOIG

Ivan Doig was born in Montana and grew up along the Rocky Mountain Front. A former ranch hand, newspaperman, and magazine editor, with a Ph.D. in history, Doig is the author of ten novels and three works of nonfiction, including the classic memoir This House of Sky.


ISCUSSION QUESTIONS
  • What are the promises and challenges of the less settled frontier life? What kind of personalities do you think make out best under these conditions? Which have a hard time flourishing?
  • "Copper is the blood of Butte" (126). Copper pulses through the veins of the town, and holds the key to Butte's identity. How do the Anaconda Mining Company, and the tensions with the union and the IWW, shape Butte and the lives and destinies of the residents?
  • Ivan Doig is as careful in planning and plotting his novels as he is in the writing. Why, then, might he have made Morrie a "cryer" as his first job in Butte?
  • In Work Song, the town library serves a vital role not only as a home for precious literary volumes, but it also stands as a community center for a wide variety of groups and ideas. Has the role of the public library changed?
  • What is it about Morrie's temperament and skills that make him such an adaptable leader? He seems uniquely suited for each position put in front of him—from promoter to cryer to librarian—until another calling presents itself…
  • Describe the women in Morrie's life (Rose, Grace, Rab). What does he gain from and share with each?
  • From the miners at Anaconda to Dora Sandison's Gilbert and Sullivan appreciation group, discuss the place of song in the lives of the townspeople. What gives these songs—from the hymns to the protest calls—their power and passion? What is the significance of the miner's new work song?
  • Were you surprised by Sandison's involvement with the winning work song—especially after learning the truth behind some of his mythologies and misdeeds? Do you find this a plot device by the author or a moral of redemption in the story?
  • Why does Morrie feel so protective of Russian Famine, going so far as to set him up with a steady position and a financial future? Before departing he also provides for the miners, Rab and Jared, and Hoop and Griff. Discuss his motivation.
  • What adventures do you think lie in store for the Morgans as they depart for a new life?

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