Where the Sun Never Shines: A History of America's Bloody Coal Industry

Priscilla Long's WHERE THE SUN NEVER SHINES: A HISTORY OF AMERICA'S BLOODY COAL INDUSTRY brings the history of coal mining in this country to vivid life. Long examines both the grim subsistence laced with tragedy which formed coal miners' lives and their visceral struggle toward light and air via labor reform. She shines a particularly clear light on the crucial part the miners' wives played in the struggle for just treatment, and underscores the important, almost mystical role that Mother Jones played in the events recounted. An important treatment of a seldom-recalled chapter in America's history, this highly readable book combines a scholar's research and specificity with a poet's clarity and turn of phrase. Highly recommended.