Monongah: The Tragic Story of the 1907 Monongah Mine Disaster: The Worst Industrial Accident in US History - Paperback

by Davitt McAteer (Author)

New paperback edition with an introduction by Robert B. Reich

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 thirty 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. This new paperback 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.

Back Jacket

To commemorate the hundredth anniversary of the Monongah, West Virginia mine disaster, the West Virginia University Press is honored to carry Davitt McAteer's definitive history of the worst industrial accident in U.S. history. "Monongah" documents the events that led to the explosion, which claimed hundreds of lives on the morning of December 6, 1907.

Nearly thirty years of exhaustive research have led McAteer to the conclusion 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. McAteer delves deeply into the personalities, economic forces, and social landscape of the mining communities of north central West Virginia at the beginning of the twentieth century. 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 Davitt McAteer helped to enact.

Author Biography

Davitt 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. During his career, Mr. McAteer has consulted and lectured extensively on health and safety issues for governments, unions, and corporations in South Africa, China, Australia, Chili, Peru and elsewhere. From 1994 to 2000, he served as Assistant Secretary for Mine Safety and Health at the US Department of Labor under President Clinton and for nearly two years, 1996 to 1997, also served as Acting Solicitor of the US Department of Labor. Shortly after the 9-11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in 2001, he was called on as an advisor to the recovery efforts at Ground Zero, consulting with union representatives of equipment operators and subway workers. Mr. McAteer served as Vice President of Wheeling Jesuit University from 2005 until his retirement in June, 2012.

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, the largest coal mine disaster in the United States in forty years, which resulted in the deaths of twenty-nine miners. He has testified before Congress on safety and health issues on numerous occasions.