King Coal

Written by Upton Sinclair

Narrated by LibriVox Community

King Coal is a book by Upton Sinclair, first published in 1917, that exposes the dirty working conditions in the coal mining industry in the western United States during the 1910s. As in an earlier work, The Jungle, Sinclair expresses his socialist viewpoints from the perspective of a single protagonist, Hal Warner, caught up in the schemes and plots of the oppressive American capitalist system. The book itself is based on the 1914-1915 Colorado coal strikes. (Summary by Wikipedia)
Reader's note: In Book 4, there is no chapter numbered Section 16 in the public domain Gutenberg e-text. However, no actual text from the book appears to be missing.

• Language: English
• Publisher: LibriVox
• Release date: Aug 25, 2014

Upton Sinclair

Upton Sinclair (1878-1968) was an American writer from Maryland. Though he wrote across many genres, Sinclair’s most famous works were politically motivated. His self-published novel, The Jungle, exposed the labor conditions in the meatpacking industry. This novel even inspired changes for working conditions and helped pass protection laws. The Brass Check exposed poor journalistic practices at the time and was also one of his most famous works.  As a member of the socialist party, Sinclair attempted a few political runs but when defeated he returned to writing. Sinclair won the Pulitzer Prize in 1943 for Fiction. Several of his works were made into film adaptations and one earned two Oscars.