47 Down

47 Down PDF

Author: O. Henry Mace

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2004-04-21

Total Pages: 296

ISBN-13:

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Advance Praise for 47 Down "A gripping mystery story: Will the men trapped deep underground in a mine by fire be reached by rescuers in time? And why do these mining disasters occur, and reoccur, in our nation’s history?" –Gerald M. Stern, author of The Buffalo Creek Disaster "This is as much a story about journalism as it is about a mine disaster. Women reporters assigned to chronicle the human side were called ‘sob sisters’ for their ability to evoke emotion with words. O. Henry Mace pays tribute to the tenacious and creative Ruth Finney, whose storytelling skills framed the story for decades after her passing and established her as one of the early giants among women in journalism." –Eleanor Clift, contributing editor, Newsweek "Most disaster books are predictable and dry, but O. Henry Mace’s 47 Down, the story of the 1922 Argonaut mining tragedy, is, quite simply, one of the best disaster books to come along in years. Mace’s taut, lyrical, intelligent prose combined with his thorough research and his film director’s eye for detail and focus make 47 Down as compelling as The Perfect Storm and as memorable as Young Men and Fire. Mace takes the reader inside the Argonaut mine shaft and doesn’t let go. This is a necessary book." –Denise Gess, coauthor of Firestorm at Peshtigo

Life, Work, and Rebellion in the Coal Fields

Life, Work, and Rebellion in the Coal Fields PDF

Author: David Corbin

Publisher:

Published: 2015

Total Pages: 312

ISBN-13: 9781940425795

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Between 1880 and 1922, the coal fields of southern West Virginia witnessed two bloody and protracted strikes, the formation of two competing unions, and the largest armed conflict in American labor history--a week-long battle between 20,000 coal miners and 5,000 state police, deputy sheriffs, and mine guards. These events resulted in an untold number of deaths, indictments of over 550 coal miners for insurrection and treason, and four declarations of martial law. Corbin argues that these violent events were collective and militant acts of aggression interconnected and conditioned by decades of oppression. His study goes a long way toward breaking down the old stereotypes of Appalachian and coal mining culture. This second edition contains a new preface and afterword by author David A. Corbin.

Regulating Danger

Regulating Danger PDF

Author: James Whiteside

Publisher: U of Nebraska Press

Published: 1990-01-01

Total Pages: 304

ISBN-13: 9780803247529

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From the 1880s to the 1980s more than eight thousand workers died in the coal mines of the Rocky Mountain states. Sometimes they died by the dozens in fiery explosions, but more often they died alone, crushed by collapsing roofs or runaway mine cars. Many old-timers in coal-mining communities and even some historians haveøblamed the high fatality rate on ruthless coal barons exploiting miners in the single-minded pursuit of profit. The coal industry preferred to blame careless miners. James Whiteside looks beyond those charges in seeking to explain why the western coal mines were (and, to some degree, still are) dangerous and why territorial, state, and federal laws failed for so long to make them safer. Regulating Danger is the first extended study of the coal-mining industry in Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming, and Montana. It exceeds the scope of traditional labor history in focusing on working conditions and the problems of workers instead of unions and strikes. After examining the inherent physical dangers of the work, Whiteside shows how the interplay of economic, social, and technological forces created an envi-ronment of death in the western coal mines. He goes on to discuss evolving industrial and political attitudes toward issues of responsibility for mine safety and government regulation and the fundamental changes in the industry that brought about safer working conditions.