The thirteenth novel in Émile Zola’s great Rougon-Macquart sequence, Germinal expresses outrage at the exploitation of the many by the few, but also shows humanity’s capacity for compassion and hope. Etienne Lantier, an unemployed railway worker, is a clever but uneducated young man with a dangerous temper. Forced to take a back-breaking job at Le Voreux mine when he cannot get other work, he discovers that his fellow miners are ill, hungry,...

For the people of Bakerton, and the five children of the Novak family, the years after World War II alter their lives in unforeseen and irrevocable ways. Dorothy is a fragile beauty hooked on romance. Brilliant Joyce, the family's keystone, is bitterly aware of the life she might have had elsewhere. Sandy, the youngest boy, sails through life on looks and charm. George, the veteran, is driven to escape the life he was born to through selfishness and...

"Engaging images accompany information about coal miners. The combination of high-interest subject matter and light text is intended for students in grades 3 through 7"--Provided by publisher.

"There's something sinister under the surface of the idyllic, suburban town of Wesley Falls, and it's not just the abandoned coal mine that lies beneath it. The summer of 1995 kicks off with a party in the mine where six high school students witness a horrifying crime that changes the course of their lives. The six couldn't be more different. Maddy, a devout member of the local megachurch. Kelly, the bookworm next door. James, a cynical burnout. Casey,...

Thirteen-year-old Kit goes to live with his grandfather in the decaying coal mining town of Stoneygate, England, and finds both the old man and the town haunted by ghosts of the past.

"From debut novelist Maris Lawyer, The Blue Line Down is a breakneck tale of betrayal, loyalty, and unexpected homecoming. Jude Washer wants to run: away from the coal mines where he is destined to work, away from his father's abuse of his little brother, away from the prison-like confines of his village. Whispers of unionizing ripple through the small West Virginia mining town. When the mines take Jude's brother away from him, Jude takes matters...

Shae-Lynn Penrose, having survived a childhood of abuse and the challenges of being a single mom, has returned to the mining town of Jolly Mount, Pennsylvania, where her now grown son works as a deputy, and finds that life still has some surprises in store for her when her sister Shannon, believed dead for the past eighteen years, shows up pregnant on her doorstep, followed by a host of shady characters.

Five families become entangled in events from the beginning of the twentieth century, following as thirteen-year-old Billy begins working in the Welsh mining pits, an American law student gets a job with Woodrow Wilson's administration, two orphaned brothers try to leave their native Russia for the U.S., and Billy's sister's employer begins an affair with a spy at the German embassy in London.

On April 5, 2010, an explosion ripped through Massey Energy's Upper Big Branch Mine, killing twenty-nine coal miners. This tragedy was the deadliest mine disaster in the United States in forty years--a disaster that never should have happened. These deaths were rooted in the cynical corporate culture of Massey and its notorious former CEO Don Blankenship, and were part of a cycle of poverty, exploitation, and environmental abuse that has dominated...

Miner Amos Blevins is startled when a block of coal the size of a stove shoots out of the wall, followed by the gushing sound of water. He escapes, but others aren't as lucky. Inspector Will Murphy is sent to investigate the incident and is encouraged by his older brother, owner of the mining company, to clear things up quickly so that the mine can reopen. Unfortunately, Will's investigation yields many unanswered questions--the most daunting of all...