Customer Reviews

Bucket of Blood, The Ragman's War

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: Bucket of Blood: Ragman's War illustrates survival strategies in a family and in a desolate coal-mining community hidden in the hills of Russellton, Pennsylvania, in 1927. Initiative saves lives as two brothers, sometimes four, link skills and ideas to keep strikers from freezing or starving when coal mine and railroad owners unite to evict them from their company houses and beat them as a method of control of the mines. S. R. Sukle, in vivid dialogue, a dramatic story line and ndiscerning description, has caught a time in the mines and on the surrounding farms which tested endurance. The hardiness of the immigrant valley denizens, family love, and the necessity for union organizing permeate the novel. Particularly touching is the German mother who rises first in the pre-dawn to heat the kitchen and brew the coffee before her sons set out each day to save their fellows. Both humorous and poignant is the father who bunks in the barn with the animals during a flu epidemic. IUniverse has published an insightful chronicle of an experience of our forefathers and mothers that we in our comfortable, 21st century lives, can scarcely imagine. Reading Bucket of Blood: Ragman's War will help us imagine the triumphing stock from which many Americans came.

I am amazed at how lucky we are to live in today's world. Bucket of Blood gave me an understanding of the hardships families had to face during the miner's strike in Pennsylvania. I could actually feel the cold and pain that the families felt and the anger expressed toward the Coal & Iron police. This was a part of history I now understand helped me realize how lucky I am to live in the world as it is today.

In Bucket of Blood, Sukle has written a fast-paced story of the turmoil and violence surrounding a 1927-1928 Miner's strike in Western Pennsylvania.In a well-written and entertaining fashion the story illuminates an important and nearly forgotten struggle in American history for Fair Wages and Fair Working Conditions. More importantly, Sukle illuminates the human heart and the strength of character shown by people in challenging conditions. The author's family history with the early union in the area gives this novel an authentic voice. I strongly recommend this book.

Having grown up in Russellton, Pa. - the setting of this book, I can vouch for the accuracy of the details. Everything from the location of various landmarks referred to on numerous occasions, down to some of the family names she mentions, they are all very real.
I was so moved by this book that I made it a point to go out of my way to visit some of these locations the next time I visited my home town. It sent chills up my spine to stand in the exact same spot as many of the characters did, now knowing their pain and suffering.
This book should be required reading for local highschool students so that they could better understand the history of their community.