Mark A. Bradley

Back when I was in my early-teens, and my family would go back to Pennsylvania to visit relatives, I can remember how this crime was part of the background noise; though I was just a little too young to be attuned to politics (Watergate would take care of that). Having not followed up on the details of the crime, or Tony Boyle's conviction, this book seemed like a golden opportunity to fill that gap.

So, is it any good? I'd say it's pretty good. There are a few details here and there that seem off, but I do think that Bradley does a good job of capturing the seediness of the world in question, why Jock Yablonski was important, and providing a group portrait of the two-bit criminals who carried out the hit (they were quite the collective piece of work). But, most of all, it makes me remember my father's reminiscence of how the happiest day of his life was when the main coal mine in Portage (Pa.) shut down, foreclosing an easy option to finding work, and forcing him to get the hell out of dodge.… (más)

Blood Runs Coal tells the history of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA), especially under the autocratic control of Tony Boyle and the fight for the control of the union by its members led by Jock Yablonski, which resulted in the murder of Yablonski, his wife, and his 25-year-old daughter in the early morning of New Year's Eve in 1969. The 7 earlier murder attempts are described in addition to the murders themselves and the successful trials and sentencing of all the people involved in the murders, including Tony Boyle himself who had ordered them. Boyle was more interested in living on a grand style and uniting with the mine owners than in the hazardous working conditions in the mines leading to the disabling and deaths of many miners -- either through black lung disease or mine accidents. Moreover, under Boyle's leadership the method of getting rid of people who criticized him was through murder. Mr. Bradley also gives some later history of the union and tells what has happened to the principals on both sides during the last fifty years.

Highly recommended… (más)