Book Description

A child of privilege plunges into a world of oppression, violence, and danger in this gripping indictment of the coal-mining industry from the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Jungle

Plot Summary

College leaves young Hal Warner feeling incomplete, with no sense of the “real” world outside its ivy-covered walls. So he leaves his life of privilege behind and signs on to work in a coal mine owned and operated by the General Fuel Company. But Hal finds out that there is nothing romantic about a miner’s life when he is forced to work long hours under backbreaking conditions and treated as more expendable than his company-owned equipment.

Characters and Themes

Hal befriends Mary Burke, a fiery miner’s daughter and a passionate advocate for workers’ rights. He gets caught up in the struggle to unionize, which brings him to the attention of his bosses and their powerful political allies. As Hal soon discovers, the powers-that-be will do anything to keep the unions out of Colorado’s mines, even if it means getting blood on their hands.

Additional Information

This ebook has been authorized by the estate of Upton Sinclair.