Our Story: 77 Hours That Tested Our Friendship and Our Faith
Author:
Genres: Biographies & Memoirs, History, Nonfiction
Book Type: Mass Market Paperback
Author:
Genres: Biographies & Memoirs, History, Nonfiction
Book Type: Mass Market Paperback
This book is a riveting account of 9 Pennsylvania coal miners who were trapped underground for 77 hours.
Some would say coal mining is not a "job", it's a calling.
These men were poor as church mice despite the dangerousness of their jobs.
They grew up together, ate together, spent Christmas' together, their families grew up side by side. The shared experience of being in total blackness every day bonded these men together further, in a way nothing else could.
The description of the 77 hours spent with them not knowing if they were going to live or die is awesomely depicted by Jeff Goodell as their story is told to him.
It breaks one's heart to read of the calloussness of the miner owners who could prevent these deadly accidents but refuse to because of the "bottom line". The families who never know when or if their loved one is coming home from one day to the next as they descend into the blackness that could kill them. Coal mining kills not just from structural collapses but from the daily breathing in of cancerous and toxic chemicals given off by the coal dust.
The way these macho men use language to keep each other's spirits up, knowing that giving up or succumbing to the horror of their plight meant certain death was interesting to me, as if you didn't know what was going on and just listened to their dialogue, you wouldn't know these guys were getting ready to meet their makers and trying damn hard to postpone the trip.
A fine read about a dangerous way of making a living that still happens today and the men who do it.
Some would say coal mining is not a "job", it's a calling.
These men were poor as church mice despite the dangerousness of their jobs.
They grew up together, ate together, spent Christmas' together, their families grew up side by side. The shared experience of being in total blackness every day bonded these men together further, in a way nothing else could.
The description of the 77 hours spent with them not knowing if they were going to live or die is awesomely depicted by Jeff Goodell as their story is told to him.
It breaks one's heart to read of the calloussness of the miner owners who could prevent these deadly accidents but refuse to because of the "bottom line". The families who never know when or if their loved one is coming home from one day to the next as they descend into the blackness that could kill them. Coal mining kills not just from structural collapses but from the daily breathing in of cancerous and toxic chemicals given off by the coal dust.
The way these macho men use language to keep each other's spirits up, knowing that giving up or succumbing to the horror of their plight meant certain death was interesting to me, as if you didn't know what was going on and just listened to their dialogue, you wouldn't know these guys were getting ready to meet their makers and trying damn hard to postpone the trip.
A fine read about a dangerous way of making a living that still happens today and the men who do it.
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