The Interstate Railroad is a complete history of a short line Appalachian coal hauler. Packed with pictures and easy to understand text, the book features complete car rosters and locomotive information. Of particular interest are the interviews with former employees and pictures of the towns that the railroad served. Steve Morris

This is not a great book. The story is simple, the characters are clichéd, and the message hits the reader with the subtlety of a caveman's club. It is reminiscent of a teen hero pulp novel; a socialist "Red Planet" perhaps. Based on that assessment this book probably deserves two stars. On the other hand, Sinclair did do an effective job of researching and documenting the labor injustices of that era. Also, his writing style is remains remarkably fluid, even if it is not a showcase for the beauty of the English language. I enjoyed this book and learned something from it, even if it is not Sinclair's highest art.

In *Origins of the New South*, his famous history of the transformation of the American South after reconstruction, C. Vann Woodward briefly mentions the rebellion of Tennessee coal miners against the use of convict labor, largely African-Americans, by mine owners. These miners, many of them recently arrived from tiny rural farms elsewhere in Tennessee and Kentucky, were an unsung constituency of the populist movement that roiled tensions between capital and labor during the Gilded Age.

In her fascinating new book, Karin Shapiro has answered Woodward's call and written a comprehensive study of this nineteenth-century miner's revolt. It is a story--this in itself is one of the book's most appealing features--of how the miners of Coal Creek, in Anderson County, Tennessee, fashioned a revolt based on ideals of rights and solidarity.

The book's themes are unusually rich. The relations some white miners were able to establish with black convict laborers are explored. The Tennessee strikers were committed to obtaining justice through non-violent, political means. Most important, the coal miners were able to win many immediate battles but not achieve their ultimate goal. They wanted to participate in a new industrial order without abandoning their Jacksonian ambition of becoming independent property owners and therefore truly "free" men. Like populists elsewhere, their seemingly radical demands were rooted in conservative beliefs. Their ideas were enormously powerful for sustaining a local uprising but less successful in holding back the emerging corporate organization of capital.

Thanks to its clear prose, moving narrative, and glimpses of the human cost of these strikes, Shapiro's book will engage the general reader as well as the serious historian. Southern, labor, economic, and African-American historians will want to add the book to their collections. Both experts and lay readers with a deep interest in the South are greatly in Shapiro's debt.

I was born in Coaldale, Carbon County. I grew up in Slatington, only a few miles from the Carbon County line, and spent some of the best hours of my boyhood tramping along the Appalachian Trail through the Lehigh Gap. That explains my personal interest in "Smokestacks and Black Diamonds: A History of Carbon County, Pennsylvania."
It doesn't explain how much I enjoyed the well-chosen photos and well-written essays in the book. The volume also reminded me of how much I didn't know about the county of my birth.
Author-editor Joan Campion does an excellent job of combining her own writing and that of contributors like Lance Metz and Rita Plotnicki to tell the story of Carbon County's industrial, agricultural and cultural heritage. I can't say too much about the selection of photos by George Harvan, who dedicated his professional life to capturing coal-mining on film.
If you like local history, you will enjoy this book. If you have had the good fortune to have lived or worked in the area, your enjoyment will be doubled.

This book is about Tennesseean's war for their jobs in the Anderson County mining region around 1891-1892. It is an historical novel. It tells an interesting fictional story based on factual events during the war between free miners and coal companies supported by the State of Tennessee Militia. The miners wanted to enforce the new state laws giving them the right to have a miner check-weigh the coal they produced, and to be paid their wages in US Dollars rather than in company scrip. The coal companies tried to get the miners to waive their rights. When the miners refused, the companies expanded the use of convict laborers, including ex-slaves, who were leased from the state. The miners took up arms to fight for their rights and against what they saw as a threat to their families' lives (or life, liberty and pursuit of happiness). The state abolished the prison labor leasing system in 1893, and Brushy Mountain State Prison (Correctional Complex) was opened in 1896 on the northwest side of this area, in Petros, TN. The private mines returned to using free miners, and the prison then used convict labor in a State mine near the prison.

I am from a small town in Eastern Kentucky where, when I was growing up, coal mining was king. Though I've never set foot in a coal mine, I am here to tell you that this book captures the essence of life in the hills.

This is an outstanding novel. It is far, far better than the tepid musings of that better known and celebrated mountain scribe, the liar Chris Offutt. It is a damned shame that "Those that Mattered" is out of print.

This slim book, one of three young-adult stories by Alvena Seckar, tells the adventure of Andy and Lena Marshak and their "city cousin" Pete as they encounter a dangerous situation they will never forget. Originally published in 1953, the book was reissued in 1991 by Bolchazy-Carducci publishers, who believe in its timeless messages for young readers everywhere. When many eastern European immigrants emigrated to the US at the turn of the last century, many settled into heavily industrial areas where the automotive industries or coal mines were in need of unskilled laborers. In this story, 12-year old Andy Marshak's parents emigrate from Slovakia and settle in Coal Patch, a small mining town typical of many in coal-rich states like Pennsylvania or West Virginia. Never an entirely safe occupation, working in the coal mines back then was even more hazardous than it is today and Seckar's story highlights the dangers of mining work and the terrible working conditions the men had to endure. Once an area of ground was "mined out," an empty coal mine sat empty, neglected and fell into disrepair. Unaware of the danger of these old mines and refusing to heed his cousins warning, "city cousin" Pete insists on poking around in an old Coal Patch mine. What happens when he does depicts the reality of the dangers of these old mines. Young readers will learn a lot in general about life in the coal mining camps. Especially interesting is when Andy explains to Pete how canaries (yes--canaries!) were first used as early poisonous gas testers in the mines--Andy's own canary is called "Zlaty" which means "golden one" in Slovak. Initially, the two cousins do not get laong, but by story's end--well, just read for yourself what happens! B&W illustrations all through the story nicely enhance the book.

Once I started this book I could not put it down. A real page turner. Using full page, elegant diagrams and figures (I particularly liked fig. 3.2), classic typeface fonts and traditional page numbering, Zimmerman takes what many would think a boring industry and makes it come alive. The cold blue cover sets a minimalist tone for the volume which is continued throughout the sparse and elegant prose. The work leaves us all wondering just what price we, as a people, should and do, put on that elusive charcoal colored mineral, coal. A masterwork of modern literature. Get your copy today.

Although A Way of Work... concentrates on the "labor history" of Thurber, Chapter 2 (ca 20 pages equivalent to ca 20% of the actual text) superficially describes underground working conditions and methods of the coal cutters. Unfortunately, none of the other mine workers, nor their work, is more than mentioned in passing. Very little description is given of the mines themselves nor their operation-for example it is unclear even how many shafts were in operation at any particular time. In addition to labor history and the lives of the coal cutters, most of the remaining space is given to a description of the sociology of the company town. The book has other annoying empty holes, such not even superficially mentioning the fate of the town after 1926. But overall, A Way of Work...is well written and worthwhile.

I was uplifted and very satisfied to be exposed to the range of women who have fought for basic humanitarian rights in the southern coal regions. These are normal people making their small difference in a world they seem to love. I would have loved to hear more about the assumed women listed such as Mother Jones, Sara Ogen Gunning, Alice Lloyd, Bessie Smith (all of whom can be looked up). Most especially, I would love to know more about Granny Hager, and Widow Combs. They are mentioned in this book briefly and there seems to be no other record of them.

Overall, the book is a wonderful taste of the differences that women make today and have made in the past. I would love to hear more detail from the authors on the infamous women of the region who never made it into the Seneca Falls Women's Hall of Fame or any Encyclopedia.