Black Gold : The Rise, Reign, and Fall of American Coal.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Wyss, Bob.

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource (344 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Berkeley : University of California Press, 2025.

Summary:

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.

Contents:

Cover page

Title page

Copyright

Contents

List of Illustrations

Synopsis and Cast

Prelude

1. Kingpin

2. Centralia

3. Giants

Part One: Rise

4. Energy Crisis

5. The Race West

6. Steelmakers

7. Molly Maguires

Part Two: Reign

8. Centennial

9. Empire

10. Penn Station

11. Smoke

12. Rebellion

13. The Coal Miner

Part Three: Fall

14. Coal Town

15. St. Louis

16. Demise

17. Power

18. Coal River

19. Black Lung

20. Longview

21. Memorial

Acknowledgments

Notes

Bibliography

Index.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Other Format:

Print version: Wyss, Bob Black Gold

ISBN:

9780520391796

OCLC:

1528361567