About this item
Prized as "the best stone in Britain" by Roman invaders who carved jewelry out of it, coal has transformed societies, powered navies, fueled economies, and expanded frontiers. It made China a twelfth-century superpower, inspired the writing of the Communist Manifesto, and helped the northern states win the American Civil War. Yet the mundane mineral that built our global economy -and even today powers our electrical plants-has also caused death, disease, and environmental destruction. As early as 1306, King Edward I tried to ban coal (unsuccessfully) because its smoke became so obnoxious. Its recent identification as a primary cause of global warming has made it a cause célèbre of a new kind.In this remarkable book, Barbara Freese takes us on a rich historical journey that begins three hundred million years ago and spans the globe.
About the Author
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.
