The real disaster is above ground : a mine fire & social conflict / J. Stephen Kroll-Smith, Stephen Robert Couch.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kroll-Smith, J. Stephen, 1947- author.

Couch, Stephen Robert, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Mine fires--Social aspects--Pennsylvania--Centralia.

Mine fires.

Mine fires--Social aspects--Case studies.

Social conflict--Case studies.

Social conflict.

Centralia (Pa.)--Social conditions.

Centralia (Pa.).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (211 pages) : illustrations

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Lexington : The University Press of Kentucky, 1990.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In the 1950's Centralia was a small town, like many others in the anthracite region of Pennsylvania. But since the 1960's, it has been consumed, outwardly and inwardly by a fire that has inexorably spread in the abandoned mines beneath it. The earth smokes, subsides, and breathes poisonous gases. No less destructive has been the spread of dissension and enmity among the townspeople. The Real Disaster Above Ground tells the story of the fire and the tragic failure of all efforts to counter it.

Contents:

Cover; Title; Copyright; Contents; Preface; Introduction: A Dying Coal Town; 1 King Coal Built a Town but Not a Community; 2 The Engineering Puzzle, 1962-1981; 3 Ambiguous Evidence and Contradictory Signals; 4 A Group Emerges and the Town Divides; 5 Confrontation and Conflict; 6 A Thwarted Struggle for Unity; 7 One Town, Many Groups; 8 ""This Town Is Dead""; 9 Making Sociological Sense of the Story; Appendix: Participatory Research in Centralia; Notes; Index;

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (p. [178]-197) and index.

"Paperback edition 2009"--T. p. verso.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780813184739

0813184738

9780813150567

0813150566

OCLC:

644352127