A West Virginia University history professor who has examined the states glass industry in a recent book will be featured on the West Virginia Library Commissions Library Television Network.

Kenneth Fones-Wolf, a faculty member with the Department of History in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences, was recently interviewed for the program,West Virginia Author.The interview centered on his latest book,Glass Towns: Industry, Labor and Political Economy in Appalachia, 1890-1930s.

The first show is scheduled to air at 9:30 p.m. Thursday (June 28) on Charter Communications Channel 17 in the Charleston area. The interview will then cycle three times a week in differing slots through July.

The Library Television Network serves more than 560,000 subscribers in West Virginia and is available in Morgantown on Comcast Communications Channel 15.

There are a number of people whose parents and grandparents were glassworkers or had connections to the glass industry,said Fones-Wolf.Being featured on the Library Television Network is a nice opportunity for people in the state to find out more about the book and to share the information with a wider audience.

InGlass Towns,Fones-Wolf explores the impact of industry on local populations and immigrant craftsmen through case studies of glass production hubs in Clarksburg, Moundsville and Fairmont.

Moreover, he examines the potential the glass industry had in the 19th century to improve West Virginias political economy by establishing a base of value-added manufacturing to complement the states abundance of coal, oil, timber and natural gas.

Glass Townswas published in January by the University of Illinois Press as a volume in a series,The Working Class in American History.

Fones-Wolf has authored or edited five books and numerous articles on American social and working-class history.

BeforeGlass Towns,he wrote two chapters on Wheeling Germans in the Civil War era and Belgians in Clarksburg forTransnational West Virginia: Ethnic Groups and Economic Change, 1840-1940,published by the West Virginia University Press in 2002.

Fones-Wolf earned his doctorate from Temple University in 1986. He later taught at the University of Massachusetts and for the Institute for Labor Studies and Research at WVU before joining the Universitys Department of History in 2000.

In addition to his TV appearance, Fones-Wolf will also be participating in the West Virginia Book Festival Oct. 13-14 in Charleston.

For more information, e-mail Kenneth.Fones-Wolf@mail.wvu.edu .