Razor Creek, Kentucky is a town that is perpetually down on its luck. Its coal mine, the primary source of income for almost all of the town’s inhabitants, is constantly beset by explosions, so much so that the townspeople have become numb to tragedy. Oh, and if that weren’t enough trouble, some sort of curse or monster lurks in the shadows. 

Razor Creek, the show and the location, is untethered from the laws of our reality, instead operating under its own absurdist, often comedic logic. But make no mistake: the realities of life in Eastern Kentucky in 1935 in many ways. Razor Creek’s fabulous Book Lady may seem completely fantastical and imaginary, but the United States government did, in fact, send women known as Packhorse Librarians to remote communities in the Kentucky mountains as part of the New Deal. The town’s treacherous coal mine is not too different from others in Harlan County, where Razor Creek is located. The dangers of these mines combined with coal firms’ exploitation of their workers led to the Harlan County War, or Bloody Harlan, a conflict between coal miners aided by union organizers and coal firms aided by law enforcement that lasted from 1931 to 1939. The Harlan County War inspired one of the most famous US labor anthems ever written, Florence Reece’s “Which Side Are You On?” 

Although Razor Creek has no official union, the show certainly emphasizes the importance of solidarity. To heal their generational trauma and create a more accepting future, the citizens of Razor Creek must push past the human inclination to find someone to pin blame on and come together as a community.

–Alice Webster