This is a narrative social history that describes the culture that grew up in the anthracite coalfields of Pennsylvania. Harold Aurand has chosen a time period that stretches from the opening of significant underground mining of anthracite coal until its replacement by open pit mining in the 1930s. His central thesis is that hard coal miners developed a culture defined by their jobs and conditions in their industry. Their values included on the one hand a deep mistrust of others and on the other hand a support network based on reciprocity within their communities.

This thesis is similar to, but somewhat different from David Alan Corbin's (Life Work and Rebellion in the Coal Fields: The Southern West Virginia Miners, 1880–1922. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1981). Corbin and other labor historians who have chronicled the development of working class life during the period of American industrialization have found in one form or another that a distinct culture arose that was related to their experiences with industry. There has not been a broad agreement on what this entails, Coburn stressed rebellion and conflict, whereas Aurand stresses an adaptive value system. Like that of Coburn, and other labor historians, Aurand's work has valuable and detailed insights into the workings of the industry and of the labor market that go beyond the central thesis of his work.

Aurand's description of the technology and mining of hard coal, the division of labor that was part of that technology and the selling of that coal is a valuable primer on how the industry actually worked. These topics range from the size and value of various lumps of anthracite; a description of technological innovations in the industry between 1835 and 1935 (such as steam to electricity); pay systems; and the social pyramid within the mines. This is not an exhaustive list and the level of detail enables a reader to quickly get a grasp of essential features of this industry.

Perhaps the most valuable part of this work lies in the description of the cartel, called the “combine,” that dominated the anthracite industry for much of the period covered. Indeed one is reminded of OPEC when one reads, “the general sales agents would meet monthly to set prices and determine a tonnage level that would support those prices (p. 20).” And that tonnage “would be allocated among carriers according to a fixed formula based upon their respective mining capacities (p. 20).” This led to individual mines not producing coal for a certain number of days, thus Aurand writes, “The combine relied upon a labor surplus to maintain low wages” (p. 82).

Throughout his work Aurand is a bit unclear at relating all of the elements of monopolistic behavior to one another, as when he states, “the mining subsidiaries could not deal with the industry's crucial problem—excess capacity” (p. 21). Excess capacity is a consequence of a cartel restricting supply, and it is a problem that could be solved by breaking up the cartel. Instead Aurand describes the problems of the industry as something like capitalist anarchy; that “the industry suffered from overcapitalization … that forced it to maintain low labor costs while artificially maintaining high prices” (p. 7). This, of course, is a pretty good description of how a monopolist would function, and this is where Aurand is somewhat off point. Effective cartels restrict production, maintain high prices, hire less labor, and consequently enjoy long-run profits. In other words excess capacity and underemployment of resources, including labor, are characteristic of this form of market organization.

Indeed, once one understands this point, then this work could be read as a virtual case study of a cartel's actions in terms of both some of management's strategic decisions and their impacts on employees. One wishes that so well-informed an author could have organized his work based on a more thorough understanding of the effects of a cartel; this would have probably enlarged this work into a definitive history of the hard coal industry.

In terms of the basic thesis relating to the evolution of a distinct culture among these miners I found the evidence and discussion somewhat less compelling. On the one hand I am not sure that values such as toughness and independence were that different from mainstream culture. On the other hand, the evidence for this seemed weaker than other parts of this work. This should not, however, distract one from the genuine value that can be found in this excellent book.