Thurber Texas included people from many countries that came to a small town in Texas for work and to make a better life for them selves.As the railroads need for coal went away the people also went away.This is a classic book that tells of a time past,a industry in decline,and the way of the company town.I am from this area and for many years I drove past the smoke stack near the interstate and wondered what it was and why it was there.This books reveals the history of this area and gives good insight into a way oif life gone forever.I can reccomend this book to history buffs and people from this area of Texas with the question "I wonder what that smoke stack is doing there?For history buffs a 9.8 out of a 1

This book was just wonderful. Some real good research obviously went into this book to give it the actual atmosphere of the West Coast. I loved it. It is some excellent literature that I would recommend to absolutely anybody. Grandma, keep up the good work!

The pictures are amazing. I do have to admit that Malcolm Wilson is my brother, but he IS a wonderful photographer. He captures the true Appalachia in a way no other artist could. I am incredibly proud of him.

A beautiful collection of memorable, accessible poems. Poems like "The Great Wilno" and "My Uncle's Arm" alone make the collection a worthwhile read. Humes skillfully blends masterful language, humor, and a true sense of understanding of the human experience to create wonderful poems that will stick with the reader long after finishing the book.

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.

The womens stories in this book show how one can rise above any circumstances. I is an inspiration to the strength of women, men, and families.

Set in the coal mines of West Virginia, Wrestle the Mountain is an entertaining "coming of age" novel. Jed Jefferson Tate is an eleven-year-old boy who yearns for a better life than the constant struggle for survival that his father faces in the mines. With help from his teacher and his aunt, Jed must somehow find his own path. Then when a natural disaster puts lives in danger, everything changes! Wrestle The Mountain is a compelling and heart-told story.

I picked this book up on my "return to classics mission" and was disappointed. It is the story of a Welsh coal-mining family at the end of the 19th century told by one of the younger boys in the family.

The story lacked depth. As one might expect, all the characters in the family were tried and true and terrific with a few minor exceptions. When a family member fell from grace you could be sure he or she would rise up again. The devotion of a younger brother does not make for tension. There was little conflict in the book even though strikes and strife with the mine owners were chronicled.

There just is not a lot to say about this long family saga other than it is a long family saga. The writing was good and the Welsh dialect attractive. However, I did not think the writing transcended the flatness of the plot.

I first read this book in High School. I loved it, but wasn't always sure what was going on - why would Huw be bed-bound for two years just because he fell into a stream? But the lyricism of the language captivated me; Llewellyn writes the way the Welsh people I've encountered actually speak - he does a better job of capturing the voice of a language than any other writer I know.

I have two problems with this book. First, I find the characters somewhat flat - they are all so perfect, and play their roles so well, that they are somewhat predictable. If they were negative, you would call them caricatures. But I'm sure there are people who are that genuinely GOOD, if perhaps occasionally more interesting and human. And I always enjoy "sweep of history" books that trace a family or people through time. My other problem, which is related to the first, is that time doesn't seem to have affected the characters in this book - they are essentially the same at the end as they were at the beginning - they seem quite unaffected by the events that occur in their lives. So the characterizations could have been more realistic without losing "gravitas."

Having said that, I rank this among my favorite books - I recently reread it, after many years, and while I still don't know why Huw was bed-bound, it's still a terrific book and my ears still ring with the language!

From the very first line of this book, I knew I was in for an interesting, unique experience. This novel was beautiful~ the flowing language, the flashes from present time to the past, the intricate detail of each character. The simplicity of the narrative of this story carries the plot line along. The descriptive use of words, especially adjectives, sets the reader right in the middle of all the action. Although the characters seem too "good" a lot of the time, I think the reason for this is because the society which they inhabit is so. They do have their bad qualities which they acknowledge and try to remedy. Llewellyn chose to write this book with simple Welsh language; a wise choice I heartily agree with it. The reader can feel the words coming straight from the heart, and can therefore connect well with the characters. This book had me captivated from beginning to end, and even when it ended, I found myself wishing for more. This book is definitely one that I count among my favorites~ and I do not think it gets the recognition it deserves a lot of the time, which is unfortunate because it is a true classic that is timeless...

If you want to read an absorbing, moving and surprising story that you could read over and over again, reach for Madeleine L'Engle's "A Live Coal in the Sea." L'Engle is one of this century's greatest living writers. She always writes about meaningful and varied topics, and this novel is full of them. The story is shocking at times, and yes, there are sexual themes that are deeply disturbing, but this is an INCREDIBLY WELL-WRITTEN book. As a college graduate from the University of California in English and American literature, I have read plenty of books. I truly feel that writing doesn't get much better than this. L'Engle creates characters who are realistic and who have profound concepts to teach yet are fallible people. The protagonists within the story are amazing role models who inspire and disappoint us. "A Live Coal in the Sea" is a sequel to L'Engle's novel "Camilla" and it just makes the experience richer if you've read that before reading this one, but not crucial. I have to laugh after reading the other reviews here that pick apart small "flaws" within this story - YOU try writing something like this and then we'll talk! I think that all novels, whether they are written by Charles Dickens or by Jackie Collins, have something to pick apart if you are looking for that. If you want a story that will affect you and you want to read one of the most magnificent writers of our time, choose "A Live Coal in the Sea." I have read over 2/3 of L'Engles books (she has written many!!!) and besides "A Ring of Endless Light" and "A Wrinkle in Time" it is one of the best of her books. Whether or not you're L'Engle fan, you will most likely become one after reading this tale of true mercy, growth, and love.

After reading Madeleine L'Engle's Camilla, I just had to find out what had become of her. A Live Coal in the Sea introduces new characters and reunites us with old friends. Written in the style of A House Like a Lotus, with flashbacks every few pages, the reader will never be confused about the time. The main character is Camilla Dickinson, who is happy until her granddaughter, Raffi, comes to her home asking "Are you or aren't you my grandmother?" Camilla is forced to deal with something that happened long ago. So she tells the story of her life, beginning at her senior year of college, when she met her husband which all lead up to the discovery of Raffi's father Taxi's parentage. There is a surprise twist at the end of the book. Ms. L'Engle deals with complicated issues in a subtle way. This book should be read by more mature readers, but everyone will learn something from it.

One of my favorite things about Madeleine L'Engle's work is that she shares her own life with her readers. At first glance a fictional story dealing with four generations working through their own dysfunction and pain to find healing and mercy, and perhaps even a sort of peace, would not seem to have a lot of similarity to L'Engle's own life, or at least one would hope not. The similarities I find are subtler. L'Engle is Episcopalian. Her main character's husband works in an Episcopalian church. L'Engle's husband Hugh was an actor who played on a soap opera for many years, as is Taxi Xanthakos, another character from the book. As she shares pieces of herself in numerous details such as these, L'Engle adds authenticity to her tale.
The story itself takes many unexpected twists and turns as it progresses. These twists and turns, along with L'Engle's attention to detail that I mentioned earlier, invite the reader to not just take the story at face value, but to read it for the broader underlying theme-mercy. Each of her characters must give and receive mercy at one time or another, some more than others. Although I have had none of the experiences of the characters in this book, I found myself able to identify with their plight as they struggled with mercy and forgiveness. The plot of the story so drew me in though that I was about halfway through the book before I really understood why I was identifying with them. We all need to give and receive mercy countless times throughout our lives.

Mr. Smith here does for Victorian England what his Arkady Renko series has done for Russia over the last twenty years--renders it accessible & makes it fascinating.

It's 1872 and Jonathan Blair is a disgraced African explorer & mining engineer who longs to return to Africa & find his half-black (hence, the disgrace) daughter. His patron, Bishop Hannay, offers him the means to return if he will first undertake a bit of detective work. Bishop Hannay's daughter is engaged to marry a young cleric, John Maypole who has gone missing in the coal mining town of Wigan. Blair takes up the search, but soon finds that he's the only one who actually wants to find the missing man.

As in the Renko series, one of the great strengths of the book is that Blair is so powerless in the face of resistance from the mine owners, their henchman, the Bishop's daughter, the Church and the miners themselves. This aspect of having the "detective" work outside of the powers that be, rather than be an agent of those powers is an extremely effective device in adding an extra layer of tension to the story.

GRADE: B+

Martin Cruz Smith leaves modern Russia ("Gorky Park" & "Polar Star") for Victorian England in his latest novel. Jonathan Blair, shaking with Malaria, and with literally only the sweaty shirt on his back, goes to his employer, a stately and wealthy bishop to ask to be sent back to his beloved Africa. Blair, a mining engineer, had been accused of dipping into the Bible fund on a previous expedition and sent home in disgrace. He is sent to Wigan, a coal mining town, to find the missing curate John Maypole who happens to be the Bishop's future son-in-law.Blair is promised employment on the next expedition to Africa if he is successful in locating the young Maypole. Once in Wigan, Blair finds that not everyone is anxious to solve the mysterious disappearance of the clergyman. Rose Molyneaux, a tough but lovely "pit girl" holds the many of the answers to the mystery as well as the attentions of Blair. "Rose" is a rich and layered novel written much like an old masters painting. Blair's malaria attacks, the coal dust, the closeness of the mine tunnels; it's all there to be felt and experienced. Martin Cruz Smith is a master of atmosphere and in his lastest book takes the reader to the dark, dusty, sweaty coal mines of Wigan England in 1872. Highly recommended.

In "Rose", Martin Cruz Smith demonstrates that he has versatility and depth beyond Renko and the Communist Soviet Union, taking on an ambitious and complex tale set in the dark and gritty coal mining region of Victorian England. As with all of Smith's novels, "Rose" is meticulously researched and rich in historical and cultural detail. Unike many popular authors of today who crank out hastily written and thinly developed book-upon-book to maximize commercial gain, Smith writes infrequently and carefully, choosing each word of dialogue and each scene for accuracy and maximum impact.

"Rose" is the tale of Jonathan Blair, a British mining engineer who longs to return to Africa and his African wife and daughter. To earn passage, he is sent to Wigan, a dark and destitute English mining town, to solve the mystery of the disappearance of the fiance of the Bishop's daughter. Smith's tale twists through Wigan in a series of turns - chilling in the bleakness and brutality of this 19th Century coal town and its guarded and mistrustful populace. Blair, suffering and often barely alive with malaria, sweats and feints through a series of beatings, discoveries, dangerous liasons, and ultimate triumph. The characters are richly developed, and as dark as the smokestack-blackened skies of Wigan.

This is a highly unusual, intelligent, and satisfying work of fiction. Like all of Smith's novels, you'd be wise not to miss it.