Book: Coal: A Human History - Barbara Freese

"Engrossing . . . Coal, to borrow a phrase, is king." -- New York Times Book Review In this remarkable book, Barbara Freese takes us on a rich historical journey that begins hundreds of millions of years ago and spans the globe. Prized as "the best stone in Britain" by Roman invaders who carved jewelry out of it, coal has transformed societies, launched empires, and expanded frontiers. It made China an eleventh-century superpower, inspired the Communist Manifesto, and helped the North win the American Civil War. Yet coal's transformative power has come at tremendous cost, from the blackening of our lungs and skies, to the perils of mining, to global warming. Now updated with a new chapter describing the high-stakes conflict between coal's defenders and those working to preserve a livable climate, Coal offers a captivating history of the mineral that helped build the modern world but now endangers our future. — Barbara Freese is an environmental attorney and writer, with a particular focus on climate change, energy policy, and corporate social responsibility. She is a former Minnesota assistant attorney general and a former senior policy analyst for the Union of Concerned Scientists, and she has represented various environmental and clean energy nonprofit groups working to protect the climate. Her first book, Coal: A Human History, is a New York Times Notable Book. Her latest book is Industrial-Strength Denial: Eight Stories of Corporations Defending the Indefensible, from the Slave Trade to Climate Change. She lives in St. Paul, Minnesota. Great condition. Some wear on edges of cover.

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