Troubled Times: The Struggle for Wages, Recognition, and Power in the Age of Coal and Coke

Once upon a time, coal was used almost exclusively to heat America's homes, offices, and factories. Coal lighted its cities and powered its trains. Coal and its derivative coke helped fuel the rise of the mighty American steel industry. For decades, the focal point of the nation's coal and coke trade was western Pennsylvania. Here, a deadly struggle took place. The struggle pitted the managers and owners of coal against the men who worked in the coal mines. This is the story of that struggle. The struggle was often violent; mines accidents took a fearful toll, maiming and killing thousands. And then there were the strikes and attempts to organize the unorganized into the ranks of the trade union, the United Mine workers. The struggle absorbed the energies of a succession of Presidents and Congresses, and of such notable figures as "coke king" H.C. Frick, labor chieftain John L. Lewis, and young spymaster J. Edgar Hoover. Above all, the struggle tested the endurance and courage of thousands of ordinary men and women. The miners and their families are the true heroes of this book - the first of two to chronicle these TROUBLED TIMES.