Author Barbara Freese leads a historical journey that begins hundreds of millions of years ago and spans the globe. Prized as "the best stone in Britain" by the Roman invaders who carved jewelry out of it, coal has transformed societies, expanded frontiers, sparked social movements, and still powers our electric grid. Yet coal's world-changing power has come at a tremendous price, including the blackening of our skies and lungs for centuries, and now the dangerous warming of our global climate. From the "Great Stinking Fogs" of London to the rat-infested coal mines of Pennsylvania, from the impoverished slums of Manchester to the toxic streets of Beijing, Coal is a captivating narrative about an ordinary substance with an extraordinary impact on human civilization.
