Mine Seed

by Lucia Dailey

ADVANCE PRAISE for MINE A powerful story-something extraordinary in literature.- Historian Howard Zinn. . . . comes across as an authentic record of what must have been in part a result of personal experience, family tradition and the dramatic events of the late 19th century here in the greater Scranton area-a valuable record. - Richard Rousseau, University of Scranton Secret meetings hidden in the mountains, informants, agents, spies . . . murder . . . in the Lackawanna Valley deep in the coal fields of Pennsylvania. Anthracite coal fueled the industrial revolution. Poor immigrants and their descendants mined it. Follow the tale through the eyes of three miners in the toughest years of coal from the Irish Famine, Lincoln's funeral train, the labor victories Pennsylvania coal miners won - including protecting union members from prosecution under conspiracy laws, to the landmark 1902 anthracite strike in which miners in Scranton, represented by Clarence Darrow, forced industrialists to accept the right of unions to sit at the arbitration table for the first time in United States history.

Paperback

First published December 1, 2002

Reviews

[Bren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book. The first in a growing list of fiction and essays set in the northern coal region of Pennsylvania in and around Scranton. Beautifully written, authentic, drawn from documents and oral histories. Dailey is a poet and linguist and a descendant of anthracite miners. Her characters are so alive and some scenes are so powerful, as when the striking miners are shot in Scranton, or the description of the Irish Famine, that they're indelibly etched in my mind. Howard Zinn recommended Mine Seed as "powerful and something extraordinary in literature." I second that. For anyone who wants to know what really happened in Pennsylvania's coal fields-- or anyone who just enjoys good writing.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a sweet little book, discovered at the Express Library store in Scranton.

For those who think the immigrants we came from didn't struggle and fight their way for a decent wage and reasonable working conditions, there's a lot to learn from 'Mine Seed.' The dignity they maintain in the face of sub-human conditions is moving.

Dailey's characters are likable and human. Nice job here.

[Randy · Rating 3 out of 5]

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