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Extra
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka. Read Pres. Trumka's remarks, click here...
Watch United Mine Workers of America President Cecil Roberts reading AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka's praise of Kevin Corley's historical Sixteen Tons at the AFL-CIO headquarters in Washington, D.C. for their monthly book talk about labor.
Listen to author Kevin Corley talking about the coal mine wars at the AFL-CIO book discussion in Wash., DC.
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This is a novel about immigrant workers set in American a century ago. It is an important story that comes to us at a critical time. Kevin has written a book that is full of historical insights. Although it is a work of fiction it is artfully grounded in thorough research including interviews with and recollections of people who lived through the events Kevin discusses.
It is great to see this material in a novel because Kevin’s words bring to light the dreams and aspirations of the men, women and children who lived our labor history. They traveled across oceans of water and over expanses of land. They dug and blasted deep into the earth. They endured cave-ins and hard manual labor, sometimes in coal mines only three-feet high. In fact, the descriptions of the mine work itself is fascinating because it is written so anyone today can get an understanding of the miner’s work day back then. It wasn’t easy but it was work for people who needed it.
Kevin’s book covers another important and too often overlooked aspect. The unionism and extreme backlash against any and every form of solidarity. This is part of American history that needs to be remembered.
A lot of this is heartbreaking and should break hearts. Company gunmen hounded and killed men, women and children for no crime other than trying to earn a living. Yet there were far more crimes perhaps less dramatic in scope but just as devastating. I’m thinking of the casual story in the novel as related by a shift boss about a man whose long legs were caught in a roof fall. One leg was cut off above the knee. After the amputation the boss joked, “The miner is now better in the lower tunnels.”
I’m proud the AFL-CIO is hosting a discussion of this novel and I’m glad it is part of the AFL-CIO book series. I hope the novel reaches a broad audience.
Kevin’s words bring to light the dreams and aspirations of the men, women and children who lived our labor history… This is part of American history that needs to be remembered.
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THE SOUNDERS - Examines what the work conditions of coal miners was like in the first quarter of the 20th century by listening to the accounts of the mine workers themselves. Click here...
DISASTERS - Looks at two coal mine disasters that had profound effects on the development of the United Mine Workers of America. Click here...
GUNFIGHTS - The events of West Virginia in 1920-21 are every bit as exciting and powerful as anything that occurred in the American West of the 1800s. The number of workers joining the UMWA during this time period was largely determined by the gunfight at Matewan and the Battle of Blair Mountain. Click here...
MASSACRES - We will look at two very different massacres that took place and attempt to get into the mindset of both the victims and those who did the killings.
DIVIDED KINGDOM - The United Mine Workers of America are challenged for representation of America's coal mine workers by a new union called the Progressive Mine Worker's of America. Borrowing from Carl Oblinger's 1991 book of the same name we look at the Christian County Coal Mine Wars from 1932 to 1933. Click here...
BLACK LUNG - After reading Sixteen Tons, renowned registered respiratory therapist Kevin Shrake offered us a keen insight into the effects of coal dust on the lungs of pre-1960 coal miners. Click here...
For more about the author, Kevin Corley, Click here...
For reviews on Sixteen Tons Click here...For more on the history of coal miners and a study guide for teachers and students, click here...
Reviews
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Reviews ☆
“Sixteen Tons is at its best when describing work, culture, leisure, and everyday life in close-knit Illinois mining communities…Strong women characters also add to the book, as does Corley’s handling of immigration and race…His writing is fresh and engaging as the saga unfolds. Sixteen Tons is an entertaining way to learn a lot about this chapter in history.”
“Corley describes the efforts by union organizers across America in a battle for human dignity… a compelling historical novel [that] allows readers to better understand the historical context of the ongoing struggle for workers’ rights in America. For those who maintain that unions have become too powerful, Corley’s novel serves as a reminder that unions remain a crucial bulwark against the oppression of countless American workers.”
“…Corley has woven together a diverse cast of characters — Italian immigrants, West Virginia miners, African-Americans and native born. Together they do what families do — mature, get married and raise families… Coal field hard realities continually interrupt their lives. There are mine disasters and grieving widows. There is World War I and the mass flu epidemic that followed. There are miners from central Illinois volunteering to help other miners, bringing them to Colorado, Kentucky and West Virginia to aid strikers…. Corley effectively creates individuals who are not cardboard cut-outs, but real workers with varied viewpoints. The women are just as vivid, showing families debating their risks and next move…As a teacher, Corley soaked up stories of the Illinois coal fields, translating them into a readable novel of a recent past that should not be forgotten.”