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Coal Wars

Unions, Strikes, and Violence in Depression-Era Central Washington

David Bullock

$24.95

Conflicting labor alliances turn coal miners and their families against each other—a heated, violent battle that unleashes enduring bitterness.  Coal Wars tells the fateful story.

“An engaging local history…readers are given a humanized account of a struggle over union representation that played out in a number of coal mining communities throughout the United States.”—HISTORY: Reviews of New Books

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Description

Strikes were a way of life for central Washington coal miners and their families, but Tuesday, April 3, 1934, was different. This time, people were afraid. Wives and mothers pelted cars with rocks, rotten eggs, and cow pies. They cursed and assaulted anyone who dared to cross their picket line.

On a normal shift, the striking laborers spent ten or more hours at the workplace. Dressing, preparing lights and equipment, and traveling into the mine shaft—as much as an hour each way—were all done on their own time. The miners and their families wanted safer working conditions, fair wages, and a six-hour workday.

So when leaders of their national union, the United Mine Workers of America, seemed indifferent to their concerns, some local members created a new organization, the Western Miners Union of America, and decided to strike. But this time, conflicting union alliances turned residents of Roslyn, Cle Elem, and Ronald against each other, and the heated, violent battle left deep and lasting scars.

A refreshingly balanced account, Coal Wars captures the drama surrounding a dual union movement in the 1930s American West while portraying the region’s melting pot of working families and the sociopolitical impacts of New Deal policies. Author David Bullock witnessed the bitter emotions first hand. His grandfather, a Roslyn miner, lived through the events depicted in Coal Wars.

Illustrations / maps / notes / bibliography / index / 208 pages (2014)

Listen to Heath Brown’s insightful interview with David Bullock on New Books Network

Recognition

“Bullock uses a variety of primary sources, including oral histories, to provide readers with an engaging local history. His study exhibits an innovative style by punctuating his narrative with the Swanson family’s—especially coal miner Herman Swanson’s—experiences in 1933 and 1934, at the height of the clash between the United Mine Workers of America and the local independent Western Miners Union of America. With the Swanson family caught in the middle of this dramatic conflict, readers are given a humanized account of a struggle over union representation that played out in a number of coal mining communities throughout the United States.”—Greg Hall, Western Illinois University, HISTORY: Reviews of New Books, May 2016

“As a local history, Coal Wars can appeal to a broad audience that is both popular and scholarly…it could be useful in university courses that focus on the history of the Pacific Northwest, the American West, and labor history.”—Greg Hall, Western Illinois University, HISTORY: Reviews of New Books, May 2016

Additional information

Dimensions 9 x 6 in
Format

Paperback