“King Coal”

Upton Sinclair

A young man, Hal Warner, arrives at a Colorado coal town in the 1910s and is hired as a miner. As Hal learns what life in a company town is like, we learn that he’s a rich young man out to find out what the real world is like. What he discovers is that the workers, most of whom are immigrants, are exploited by the company and that any hint of union organizing results in men losing their jobs or worse.

Though it’s a novel, “King Coal”, like Sinclair’s other works, is journalistically accurate and contains a political message. The facts and political views support, but don’t get in the way of, a good story about believable characters. Naturally, Hal falls in love, makes friends, and the experience changes him. However, tensions remain between who he was raised to be and the role he’s assumed.

Though it’s a period piece, “King Coal” is relevant now, a time when unions are under assault, prejudice against immigrants on the rise, and, heaven help us, the president thinks coal mining is a great job.