On April 5, 2010, an explosion ripped through Massey Energy's Upper Big Branch mine and killed twenty-nine miners. This tragedy was the deadliest mine disaster in the U.S. in forty years - a disaster that never should've happened. With more safety violations than anyone else in the industry, Massy went beyond ignoring regulators but actually considered them the enemy as were unions, environmentalists, and anyone else who dared to tell Massey how to do business or how keep their miners safe. Nor was it anywhere close to the end of the tragedy. Deaths have been taking place in Appalachian mines for generations. The long hours and dangerous work are part of a way of life where poverty is pervasive, but the most insidious dangers are being buried deep underground and the true costs are hidden from the balance sheets of coal companies. Massey and its former CEO Don Blankeship - the worst offenders in the industry - appeared to perpetuate a corporate culture that destroyed human life, the health of communities, and the environment all in search of higher profits.
For years, Peter Galuszka has covered energy policy around globe, and now with "Thunder on the Mountain" he tells the searing true story of the rise, fall, and resurrection of Massey Energy and in doing so exposes the coal-black motivations that fuel the on-going war for the world's energy future.
Rezensionen / Stimmen
Praise for "Thunder on the Mountain:
""Scathing expose of the coal industry... [Galuszka's] reporting is impressive, from the painstakingly reconstructed hours leading up to the disaster, to the starkly silhouetted Donald Blankenship, the cost-cutting, anti-environmentalist former head of Massey Energy."
--"The New York Times Book Review
""The 2010 tragedy at the Upper Big Branch Mine resonated nationwide and has resulted in a great deal of soul-searching among Americans over the price paid for our dependence on "Big Coal..". Beyond the mining catastrophe at its core, this is a book about working America and how one industry has conquered a landscape's body and soul. Bracing, powerful, and pertinent, this is a timely and clarion call for myth-busting change."
--"Booklist" (Editor's Choice 2012. Starred Review)
"A fascinating--and infuriating--account of the deadliest industry on earth. Deadly for its workers and the people unfortunate enough to live near its mines, but deadlier still for the planet. You can't understand our moment in time without understanding the coal industry"
--Bill McKibben "New York Times Bestselling "author of "Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet
""Appalachia may be blessed with the 'world's best metallurgical coal, ' but as journalist Galuszka's powerful book shows, this coal is both 'a curse and a prize...' He convincingly excoriates the safety record of Massey Energy and its controversial former CEO, Don Blankenship... Drawing on his personal experience of Appalachia, Galuszka offers a sympathetic but unsentimental portrait of the region's people and their struggles."
--"Publishers Weekly
""Scrupulously researched ... Galuszka's thoroughness provides readers a clear sense of the complex class issues at play in Appalachia and the difficult politics within coal-mining communities; he is attuned to both the lives of the miners and the maneuvers of the energy industry.... A disturbing a
Sprache
Verlagsort
Produkt-Hinweis
mit Schutzumschlag (bedruckt)
Maße
Höhe: 222 mm
Breite: 145 mm
Dicke: 22 mm
Gewicht
ISBN-13
978-1-250-00021-7 (9781250000217)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Klassifikation
PETER A. GALUSZKA, author of Thunder on the Mountain, is a veteran journalist who has covered worldwide energy issues, especially coal, for several decades. A former West Virginia resident, he logged thousands of miles on the windy mountain roads of Central Appalachia and traveled to Mongolia, China, and Japan to track down the Massey story. The former Moscow bureau chief for BusinessWeek, he now lives in Chesterfield, Virginia.
