In a devastating and urgent work of investigative journalism, 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. Decades ago, a grassroots
uprising forced Congress to enact long-overdue legislation designed to
virtually eradicate black lung disease and provide fair compensation to
coal miners stricken with the illness. Today, however, both promises
remain unfulfilled. Levels of disease have surged, the old scourge has
taken an aggressive new form, and ailing miners and widows have been
left behind by a dizzying legal system, denied even modest payments and
medical care.
In this urgent work of investigative journalism, Pulitzer Prize winner
Chris Hamby traces the unforgettable story of how these trends converge
in the lives of two men: Gary Fox, a black lung-stricken West Virginia
coal miner determined to raise his family from poverty, and John Cline,
an idealistic carpenter and rural medical clinic worker who becomes a
lawyer in his fifties. Opposing them are the lawyers at the coal
industry's go-to law firm; well-credentialed doctors who often weigh in
for the defense, including an elite unit Johns Hopkins; and Gary's
former employer, Massey Energy, a regional powerhouse run by a
cantankerous CEO often portrayed in the media as a dark lord of the
coalfields. On the line in Gary and John's longshot legal battle are
fundamental principles of fairness and justice, with consequences for
miners and their loved ones throughout the nation.
Taking readers inside courtrooms, hospitals, homes tucked in Appalachian
hollows, and dusty mine tunnels, Hamby exposes how coal companies have
not only continually flouted a law meant to protect miners from deadly
amounts of dust but also enlisted well-credentialed doctors and lawyers
to help systematically deny much-needed benefits to miners. The result
is a legal and medical thriller that brilliantly illuminates how a band
of laborers -- aided by a small group of lawyers, doctors and lay
advocates, often working out of their homes or in rural clinics and tiny
offices - challenged one of the world's most powerful forces, Big Coal,
and won.
"Harrowing and cinematic," (Publishers Weekly, starred review), Soul
Full of Coal Dust is a necessary and timely book about injustice and
resistance.
