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

By R.E. Sharpless, Donald L. Miller, Richard E Sharpless, et al.

Book Overview

This is the first comprehensive history of the anthracite industry and the unique regional culture that grew up with it. It is the story of one of America's first great industries and of the people who made it great-from the miserably paid immigrant mine workers to the powerful coal barons.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0812212010
• ISBN13: 9780812212013
• Release Date: November 1985
• Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
• Length: 382 Pages
• Weight: 2.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 8.0" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

Accurate and enjoyable

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.

History of coal

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.

Comprehensive. Well done!!

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.

Detailed history of Noheastern Pa. coal fields

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,