The Battle of Blair Mountain: The Story of America's Largest Labor Uprising (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780465077731)

The Battle of Blair Mountain covers a profoundly significant but long-neglected slice of American history - the largest armed uprising on American soil since the Civil War. In 1921, some 10,000 West Virginia coal miners, outraged over years of brutality and lawless exploitation, picked up their Winchesters and marched against their tormentors, the powerful mine owners who ruled their corrupt state. For ten days the miners fought a pitched battle against an opposing legion of deputies, state police, and makeshift militia. Only the intervention of a federal expeditionary force, spearheaded by a bomber squadron commanded by General Billy Mitchell, ended this undeclared civil war and forced the miners to throw down their arms. The significance of this episode reaches beyond the annals of labor history. Indeed, it is a saga of the conflicting political, economic and cultural forces that shaped the power structure of 20th century America.

Author: Robert Shogan
ISBN-10: 0465077730
ISBN-13: 9780465077731
Publisher: Basic Books
Language: English
Published: 07/26/2006
Pages: 296
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.92lbs
Size: 9.09h x 6.06w x 0.67d

Review Citation(s):
Kliatt 03/01/2007 pg. 39