Customer Reviews

The Kingdom of Coal: Work, Enterprise, and Ethnic Communities in the Mine Fields

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This is the definitive history of the birth, rise and fall of the anthracite coal industry in three northeastern Pennsylvania fields: Schulykill, Lackawana and Wyoming. Written in narrative form with copious references, it details the everyday trials and tribulations of the immigrants who worked the fields and the coal companies who exploited them. This is must reading for anyone wanting an insight into the lives of their ancestors who immigrated and worked these fields between 1800 and 1970,

Kingdom of Coal is a very well done telling of the history of anthracite coal. The book tells the story from the days when stone coal was first discovered in the wilderness of Eastern PA, through its development as a major energy source, and into the labor struggle. Closely associated is the development of canals, known as the anthracite canals to bring the coal to market and later the development of railroads. Still later the railroads, known as the anthracite railroads owned most of the mines.

The book also covers the close association between coal and the iron industry. Anthracite was first used by blacksmiths. It soon replaced charcoal in blast furnaces to reduce iron ore to iron. Iron rails for the railroads, previously imported from England, were an early product.

Missing in the book is the story of the gaslight industry. Processes for the manufacture of gas from coal were invented in 1815. Nearly every city of any size had a gas plant to supply gaslights. This was an early user of coal--originally imported from Europe. The industry continued until World War II when transcontinental pipelines brought natural gas to the distribution systems originally built for manufactured gas.

This book may not be for everyone, but I grew up in the Lehigh Valley and only saw the last vestiges of the anthracite era. My grandfather worked in #9 mine for Lehigh Coal and Navigation during the early 20th century. Miller and Sharpless provide a broad historical overview suitable for a general reader.

They start with the first discoveries of anthracite and continue on through the development of canals and railroads primarily for the movement of coal to market. Attention is paid to local geographical features, economics, and the impact on local communities caused not just by the coal industry itself but the accompanying transport of coal. Local cities and towns have their moments in the sun: Pottsville, Mauch Chunk, Scranton, Wilkes-Barre - all testified today by their older neighborhoods of fantastic 19th century houses for the upper classes.

The dirty, dangerous, brutal effects that the industry had on all involved is a major theme of the book. Miners themselves are discussed front and center. It didn't occur to me that each individual miner was in effect a sub-contractor, arranging ahead of time terms of sale with the companies for each ton of coal he mined. Chapters on the Molly Maguires, ethnic communities, and union activity all bring color and detail to an important stage in American history.

For anyone interested in learning much more about the huge impact anthracite coal had on the industrial revolution in America as well as how it changed the land and people of northeast Pennsylvania, this is the book for you!

The authors provide not only a well researched account but also a very enjoyable one. Having spent my childhood in this area of the country, the authors provided answers to many of my questions while making history come alive. I actually found it difficult to stop reading! Excellent.

Because my husband is descended from coal miners in Slovakia and KY, this book was purchased for a family reunion. Men were especially interested in the story of getting coal out of the ground, how it affected families and even children.