Tragedy at Avondale: The Causes, Consequences, and Legacy of the Pennsylvania Anthracite Industry's Most Deadly Mining Disaster, September 6, 1869

When Keating (1937-2006) retired from construction work and truck driving in the early 1990s, he redoubled the time and energy he was spending as a historian and preservationist of the anthracite coal industry, founding the Anthracite Living History Group and the Avondale Disaster Site Preservation Committee. Gradually he convinced Wolensky (sociology, U. of Wisconsin-Stevens Point and sociology and history, King's College, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania) that the conventional version of the disaster was wrong, and to help him find the facts. The topics include accident or arson, labor and regional conflicts, the Welsh-Irish and the Molly Maguires, mine safety and other legacies, and memorializing and reinterpreting. Appended are a glossary, timeline, and ballads and poems. Annotation ©2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)