Best regards, Andrew Stewart
Begin forwarded message: > From: H-Net Staff via H-REVIEW <[email protected]> > Date: April 7, 2021 at 11:11:11 AM EDT > To: [email protected] > Cc: H-Net Staff <[email protected]> > Subject: H-Net Review [H-Environment]: Leech on Wright, 'Carbon County USA: > Miners for Democracy in Utah and the West' > Reply-To: [email protected] > > Christian Wright. Carbon County USA: Miners for Democracy in Utah > and the West. Salt Lake City University of Utah Press, 2020. > Illustrations, maps, graphs. xlvi + 423 pp. $45.00 (cloth), ISBN > 978-1-60781-731-4. > > Reviewed by Brian Leech (Augustana College) > Published on H-Environment (April, 2021) > Commissioned by Daniella McCahey > > Many books have covered the story of western mining, but few have > focused on the modern era. Fewer still have tackled western coal's > recent past. Christian Wright's wonderfully illustrated _Carbon > County USA _joins efforts to correct this oversight. Its history of > the Utah coal industry contains insights for folks interested in > environment and technology, but _Carbon County USA _largely operates > as a labor history. Wright is driven by two questions. First, why did > the labor movement decline in the 1970s and 1980s? Second, what > happened to mining unions' efforts to become more democratic and > inclusive? In considering these questions, Wright explores Utah's > coalfields in great depth. The resulting narrative will prove useful > to mining, energy, and labor historians. > > The first two-thirds of this book draws from oral histories and union > records. Readers encounter a plethora of correspondence among > national, regional, and local officers, organizers, and rank-and-file > workers. These sources allow Wright to connect national stories about > the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) to the US West. Fights over > union president Tony Boyle's troubled administration, usually > examined from the perspective of Appalachia, now become a story about > the 1960s West as well. Since Boyle came through the ranks in > Montana, this approach makes a lot of sense. The rise of Miners for > Democracy, a movement that hoped to internally reform the national > UMWA, meant a number of significant changes toward democracy and > lessened corruption, but this movement happened in fits and starts in > the American West--gaining momentum more slowly than in the > East--during the 1970s. > > Sometimes we lose sight of Utah in chapters that consider the broader > West. This situation happens in part because many of the union > records come from District 22, which included other western coal > centers, like Wyoming. Utah was often an outlier in the mining West. > It maintained coal union support more strongly than neighboring > states, partly because Utah did not feature the massive strip mines > that came to dominate the western plains. > > However, Wright's efforts to embed Utah in the broader West pays off. > Wright does particularly well to show that coal's rebound during the > energy-starved 1970s happened in an American West that had become an > increasingly poor ground for unionism. The shift to surface mines was > not the only reason for unions' difficulties; instead, Wright points > to tensions between national and regional leadership, the UMWA's > struggles to provide competitive benefits, a series of failed > organizing drives, the existence of strongly anti-union employers in > the West, a more individualistic culture in the West's energy > boomtowns, mechanization's effects across the industry, and a > generation gap between old and new hires. > > The final chapters stand out. These pages skillfully examine the > changing composition of the workforce. After World War II, Mexican > Americans made their way into Utah's coal industry. The > Spanish-speaking Organization for Community Integrity and Opportunity > (SOCIO), an organization driven by the Chicano movement, used its > positive relationship with the state to generate a high profile in > Utah's coal fields during the 1970s. SOCIO was soon entering floats > in Carbon County's labor parades, showing how its members blended > different types of activism. > > Women also fought for acceptance. A series of national lawsuits in > the 1970s forced coal companies to employ women. Despite facing a > lack of bathroom/changing facilities, exclusion from higher-paying > positions, and outright sexual harassment, many women found good > wages and benefits in mining. The national Coal Employment Project > (CEP) promoted women's inclusion. Women made up an increasing > proportion of workers during the 1980s, including an incredible 57 > percent of all new hires in Utah coal in 1983. The CEP's local > offshoot, the Lady Miners of Utah, became a cohesive and effective > voice for women. Its efforts encouraged the election of the first > women to hold district UMWA office: Rita Miller and Joy Huitt. > > Sadly, just as Mexican Americans and women found a place in coal, the > western energy boom collapsed. Mine closures in Carbon County robbed > Mexican American activists of their power base. Under last-hired, > first-fired principles, most women lost their jobs and the coal > industry re-segregated by sex. It is a sad story, well told. > > _Coal County USA _should gain readership among historians of mining, > unions, and energy transitions. The author and press deserve > particular praise for the book's numerous illustrations. Readers are > rewarded with maps, graphs, photos, and a detailed chronology. > > Citation: Brian Leech. Review of Wright, Christian, _Carbon County > USA: Miners for Democracy in Utah and the West_. H-Environment, H-Net > Reviews. April, 2021. > URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=55305 > > This work is licensed under a Creative Commons > Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States > License. > > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. 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