In the Kingdom of Coal: An American Family and the Rock That Changed the World [Hardcover]

Dan Rottenberg (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0415935229 | ISBN-13: 978-0415935227 | Publication Date: September 30, 2003 | Edition: 1

It was a time of poverty and enterprise, when poor men slaved in the mines, rich men became barons and America grew from a backward agricultural colony to the industrial force of the modern world. The driving power behind this transformation was coal, the black gold that even today illuminates our cities and runs our personal computers. "The Kingdom of Coal" tells the extraordinary story of coal through the eyes of two families - one the magnates, one the miners - over three generations while locked together, for better or worse, in a common quest.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

"Coal," writes former Wall Street Journal reporter Rottenberg (Revolution on Wall Street), has been "the critical force driving the modern world for the past two centuries." Rottenberg tries, with varying success, to animate that history with a well-written account of two families tied together by the busts and booms of the coal industry as it evolved from an almost agricultural endeavor in the late 18th century into a highly mechanized but physically and financially dangerous modern corporate enterprise. One family, the Leisenrings, owned and operated major American mining companies for five generations. The second family, the Givenses, worked the mines of eastern Virginia for most of the 20th century. Rottenberg's background as a financial writer stands him in good stead as he skillfully traces the relationship between technical advances that made coal a more economically feasible source of energy and the infrastructure changes (canals and later railroads) that facilitated the movement of coal. His treatment of larger events the unionization of manufacturing industries, the Great Depression, WWII and the Vietnam War expands the book's reach to reflect factors that influenced all of American industry. Rottenberg's access to materials about the Leisenrings enlivens his discussion of the corporate side of the coal equation. His account of the Givens family, whose lifestyle and culture are not as well documented, is less engaging. Rottenberg is particularly good on the rise and fall of the United Mine Workers and its charismatic union icon John L. Lewis and his successor, Tony Boyle, who was convicted of the murder of union rival Jack Yablonski.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

In a superb balancing act, Dan Rottenberg deftly portrays the quixotic tycoons who were determined to succeed at any cost while keeping the reader attuned to how this black substance literally revolutionized American society. There is backroom intrigue involving the likes of Carnegie, Frick, and Rockefeller; bloody warfare between capital and labor; and political shenanigans that reverberate today. With diligent research, personal insight, and spirited language, Rottenberg transforms the machinations driving the coal industry into a raucous and lively ride through history.
–Peter Krass, author of Carnegie

This is two histories for the price of one: a history of America's most abundant and important natural resource and a history of the people it has warmed, made rich, and used up. Both are great tales well told..
–James T. Baker, author of Andrew Carnegie: Robber Baron as American Hero

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (September 30, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415935229
• ISBN-13: 978-0415935227
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,522,244 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I loved this book! Educational and Historically correct, February 2, 2010

By 

Craig Issod (Southampton, MA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: In the Kingdom of Coal: An American Family and the Rock That Changed the World (Hardcover)

I am a bit of a nut about history and energy. So I had high expectations about this book...and, frankly, they were met and exceeded.

There is no real political slant to this - just history. Like it or not, coal has been one of the major factors in our technological and lifestyle progress. The history of the rock in Pennsylvania (hard and soft coat) as well as some of the big finds in VA. are detailed here.

I read a lot of boring history books to gleam information. This was not one of those boring books. Exciting and informative was how I would describe it.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Too Much Emphasis on Labor Unions; Not Enough on the Entrepreneurs, May 11, 2008

By 

Doug (Washington D.C. area) - See all my reviews

This review is from: In the Kingdom of Coal: An American Family and the Rock That Changed the World (Hardcover)

When I checked this book out of the library since it appeared to be the *only* book that would discuss the history of the coal mining industry in terms of how it revolutionized standard of living. The United States of America is considered the Saudia Arabia of coal. I wanted to read about how anthracite coal went from a pile of useless black rocks to a cheap, efficient, abundant and relatively clean energy source. Unfortunately, this book greatly fell short of my expectations in this regard.

The chapters on Josiah White's discovery of the utility of anthracite coal and the entrepreneurship of John Leisenring are very exciting to read. However, this book contains too much emphasis on the impact of labor unions in the coal industry. While I am not questioning the veracity or the importance of this information, I perceive that it just does not make inspiring reading material. I decided to not finish the book.

Tragically, this still might be the best book on the productive geniuses behind the coal industry to date.