Fire and Brimstone: The North Butte Mining Disaster of 1917
Written by Michael Punke
Narrated by William Roberts
4/5
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About this audiobook
From the #1 international bestselling author of The Revenant – the book that inspired the award-winning movie – comes the remarkable true story of the worst mining disaster in American history.
In 1917, the lives of a company of miners changed forever when the underground labyrinth of tunnels in which they worked burst into flames. Within an hour, more than four hundred men would be locked in a battle to survive. Within three days, one hundred and sixty-four of them would be dead.
Michael Punke
Michael Punke is the author of The Revenant which was made into an Oscar winning movie directed by Alejandro Gonzalez starring Leonardo DiCaprio. He lives with his family in Montana. Punke is the history correspondent for Montana Quarterly magazine. Punke is also the author of a work of nonfiction, Fire and Brimstone: The North Butte Mining Disaster of 1917, a finalist for the Mountains and Plains Booksellers Award.
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Reviews for Fire and Brimstone
14 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5True story of the worst hard rock mining tragedy in US history that occurred on June 7, 1917, when a worker at the Granite Mountain copper mine accidentally started a fire that rapidly spread into a fiery inferno, trapping 400 miners underground and killing 168. The narrative follows the history of copper mining, the Copper Kings, the people involved in the tragedy, the company’s responses, and a detailed analysis of what happened. The first half describes the causes of the disaster and rescue efforts. It highlights the heroic actions of two men - Manus Duggan and James Moore. They each saved lives by leading a group of men to build a bulkhead in two different places, which enabled them to escape the toxic gases produced by the fire. This section delves into the lives of the men and their family members. It is based on interviews of descendants and contemporaneous news accounts. The second half covers the miners seeking safer conditions and better pay via unions, and the resistance to their demands by the company. It covers labor history and the associated violence. It speaks of politicians, corruption, and legal battles. It is an engrossing book filled with tragedy, heroism, and the struggles of workers for improved conditions. The author provides many detailed footnotes. He ties the Butte mining disaster to the bigger picture of politics, labor, and legislation on local, state, and national levels.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Gripping story of a horrendous tragedy that coincided with America's entry in WWI. On June 7, 1917, workers in the Granite Mountain copper mine in Butte, Montana accidentally started a massive fire which raged out of control underground, trapping 400 miners and killing 169. It was the worst hard-rock mining disaster in US history. The hero of the fire was young miner called Manus Duggan, who saved the lives of other miners by building a bulkhead to shield from the toxic gases, but tragically lost his own life within sight of rescue, leaving a pregnant wife. The story of Duggan and his wife Madge forms the story around which the book revolves, as she recovers from the tragedy to give birth to a daughter and then go onto a remarkable career in public life. The latter half of the book covers the savage fight between miners seeking safer conditions and better pay and the implacable Anaconda company which stubbornly fought against their union and its demands, a fight that frequently turned violent and led to the savage murder of an official of the Industrial Workers of the World, the radical left labour organisation which was opposed to the war and which sought to hijack the Butte miners strike for its own purposes. This is a tremendous book, full of tragedy, heroism, the passion of workers struggling for a better deal and those who sought to stop them. Simply a great and though-provoking read.