The driving power behind America's rise from backward agricultural colony to the industrial force of the modern world was coal. This is the story of coal through the eyes of two families - one the magnates, one the miners - over five generations while locked together, for better or worse, in a common quest.

First Published in 2003. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

"In a superb balancing act, Dan Rottenberg deftly portrays the quixotic tycoons who were determined to succeed at any cost while keeping the reader attuned to how this black substance literally revolutionized American society. There is backroom intrigue involving the likes of Carnegie, Frick, and Rockefeller; bloody warfare between capital and labor; and political shenanigans that reverberate today. With diligent research, personal insight, and spirited language, Rottenberg transforms the machinations driving the coal industry into a raucous and lively ride through history." -- Peter Krass, author of Carnegie"This is two histories for the price of one: a history of America's most abundant and important natural resource and a history of the people it has warmed, made rich, and used up. Both are great tales well told." -- James T. Baker, author of Andrew Carnegie: Robber Baron as American Hero "In the Kingdom of Coal is an interesting and provocative account of two centuries of caol mining in the United States." -- Alan Banks, Eastern Kentucky University, Journal of Appalachian Studies