Soul Full of Coal Dust: The True Story of an Epic Battle for Justice

In this remarkable book, Hamby exposes the rigged system — orchestrated by wealthy corporate lawyers, a radiologist at one of America\’s most prestigious university hospitals, and ruthless coal companies — that denied benefits to miners who suffered from black lung disease. Hamby deservedly won a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting on the topic. Now, he tells the \”story behind the story\” through a southern WV coalfields lawyer and a coal mine roof-bolter. You can tell that Camby cares about the miners and their familes that he writes about. This David vs. Goliath tale is infuriating, riveting and inspiring. It has echoes of Harr\’s \”A Civil Action.\” Highly recommended!

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 What a fabulous read! Being from Appalachia, I do not trust many people who write about the area where I\’ve spent the majority of my life. When I read the description of this book, I was cautiously hopeful. To be honest, the cover — with its stereotypical depiction of a desolate area in bland black and white — did not relieve my reluctancy. From the first paragraph, however, I was hooked. Chris Hamby\’s Soul Full of Coal Dust is an intriguing read that will certainly appeal to those of us who have witnessed and experienced the coal mining way of life. Hamby\’s research details the legal battles and political policies that impacted generations of miners who have suffered from Black Lung. To those who know little about the subject, the book offers a critical look at a search for justice. Though Hamby writes a thorough history of the issue, the narrative structure makes this book anything but dull. Instead, the story of the two men at the heart of Hamby\’s investigative journalism is extremely engaging. He expertly weaves stories of the people who rose up to fight against powerful coal companies backed by political authority spanning decades. Hamby offers an empathetic examination of miners who sacrificed their health to build a country that, in turn, not only neglected them but actually waged an ongoing war against them. Unlike many books written about Appalachia (especially by ¨outsiders,¨) this one captures the true sense of miners and their family members. Hamby has a genuine understanding of the ongoing complexities facing this region. This is the view that is often overlooked by writers who oversimplify the men and women of a beautiful area often exploited for its abundant natural resources. I highly recommend this important read!

Much of this book can be summed up in the footnote of a later chapter: “an “unabashed fraud scheme” in which they had “purposefully supplied falsehoods and misrepresentations about medical records in a concerted and repugnant effort to skew the adjudicatory outcomes of claims lodged by hundreds of coal miner victims.”” Justice remains elusive in this industry, but the book brings heroes, hero victims, and scoundrels to the fore.

Being somewhat familiar with West Virginia and its politics, I was totally unaware of the corruption involving the Black Lung Benefits system. the author did an epic job of researching data and explaining the good and bad of the legislation process. Of course the case histories were memorable and sad.

I was a member of \”The Firm\” –Jackson Kelly– and although thankfully not defending the coal companies in black lung or otherwise was basically aware of the general black lung cases from \”The Firm\’s\” perspective. I found the information in the book very compelling and persuasive.

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