David Bullock, “Coal Wars” (Washington State University Press, 2014)

David Bullock is the author of Coal Wars: Unions, Strikes, and Violence in Depression-Era Central Washington (Washington State University Press, 2014). Bullock is professor and is the chair of the Communications and Languages Department at Walla Walla University. Coal Wars is at once a political history, a regional history, and a labor organizing history. Through archival research and interviews, Bullock tells the story of Roslyn, Washington and neighboring mining towns of Cle Elem and Ronald. In the 1930s, these towns were at the center of highly disputed labor negotiation that spiraled into heated argument and later violence. At the center is the national union, the United Miners Union of America, and the local upstart Western Miners Union of America, that decided to strike in 1934. Bullock weaves together a historical narrative that informs about the internal conflicts in the labor movement and how national politics affected this region of the country. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices