West Virginia University Press is publishing a paperback edition of Monongah: The Tragic Story of the 1907 Monongah Mine Disaster by Davitt McAteer. This new edition includes an introduction by Robert B. Reich, Chancellor’s Professor of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley and Secretary of Labor during the Clinton administration.

Monongah: The Tragic Story of the 1907 Monongah Mine Disaster documents the events and conditions that led to the worst industrial accident in the history of the United States. This mining accident claimed hundreds of lives on the morning of December 6, 1907, and McAteer, an expert on mine and workplace health and safety, delves deeply into the economic forces and social-political landscape of the mining communities of north central West Virginia to expose the truth behind this tragedy. After nearly 30 years of exhaustive research, McAteer determines that close to 500 men and boys—many of them immigrants—lost their lives that day, leaving hundreds of women widowed and more than one thousand children orphaned. The tragedy at Monongah led to a greater awareness of industrial working conditions, and ultimately to the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969, which McAteer helped to enact.

McAteer is internationally recognized as an expert on mine and workplace health and safety. He worked with consumer advocate Ralph Nader to help enact the landmark 1969 Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act. During the 1970s, he led the safety and health programs of the United Mine Workers of America and founded the Occupational Safety and Health Law Center. On four occasions, at the request of two West Virginia governors, he has conducted independent investigations into mine disasters and accidents. Most recently in April of 2010, then West Virginia Governor, Joe Manchin III, requested that McAteer conduct an independent investigation into the Upper Big Branch mine disaster

To order this book, visit wvupress.com, phone (800) 621-2736, or visit a local bookstore.

Monongah: The Tragic Story of the 1907 Monongah Mine Disaster by Davitt McAteer
May 2014/332pp/PB 978-1-938228-89-6: $24.99/ePub 978-1-938228-98-8: $24.99

-WVU-

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CONTACT: Abby Freeland, Marketing Manager, WVU Press
304-293-8400, abby.freeland@mail.wvu.edu

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