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Soul Full of Coal Dust: A Fight for Breath and Justice in Appalachia
Top of the pile
77
/100
I Index Overall Rating
Readers
86/100Critics
67/100Scholars
Author:
Chris Hamby
Publisher:
Little, Brown and Company
Date:
August 18, 2020
Pulitzer Prize winner Chris Hamby uncovers the tragic resurgence of black lung disease in Appalachia, its Big Coal cover-up, and the resilient mining communities who refuse to back down.
What The Reviewers Say
... as Chris Hamby makes clear in his lively and arduously researched book, Soul Full of Coal Dust, even those who escape the immediate dangers of toiling underground are subject to years, even decades, of pain, labored breathing, and eventual death.
In Soul Full of Coal Dust, Hamby employs dogged investigative work and a deep well of empathy for his subjects to painstakingly bring this private pathos to life.
The Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter shows how coal operators, politicians, lawyers and biased medical 'experts' rigged the system to thwart the spirit if not the letter of congressional reform.
Hamby begins Soul Full of Coal Dust by 'marveling' at the industrial sites and the “compelling” people. But what redeems him from the most common pitfalls and mistakes is his persistence.
