Overview

Coal's central role in America's history and its ongoing threats in the climate crisis. For decades coal has been crucial to America's culture, society, and environment, an essential ingredient in driving out winter's cold, cooking meals, and lighting the dark. In the coalfields and beyond, Bob Wyss describes how this magical elixir sparked the Industrial Revolution, powered railroads, and built urban skylines, while providing home comforts for families. Coal's history and heritage are fundamental to understanding its legacy of threats to America's well-being. As industry developed so did clashes between powerful tycoons, coal miners, and innocent families. Exploitation and avarice led to victimization, deadly violence, and ultimately the American labor movement. More recently coal has endangered American lives and safety, brought on by two centuries of carbon combustion, and here the threat remains unresolved. This is coal's most enduring legacy, and Black Gold is pivotal in helping us understand how we got to this point.

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9780520391789

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Reviews

""Describes coal’s central role in America’s culture, society and environment in sparking the Industrial Revolution and now contributing to the climate crisis."" * The Seattle Times *

Author Information

Bob Wyss was a reporter and editor at the Providence Journal for thirty years, a journalism professor at the University of Connecticut for fifteen years, and is currently Professor Emeritus.

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