King Coal »

Hal stood looking at the cheering crowd. He had time to note some of the faces upturned to him. Pitiful, toil-worn faces they were, each making its separate appeal, telling its individual story of deprivation and defeat. Once more they were transfigured, shining with that wonderful new light which he had seen for the first time the previous evening. It had been crushed for a moment, but it flamed up again; it would never die in the hearts of men--once they had learned the power it gave. Nothing Hal had yet seen moved him so much as this new birth of enthusiasm. A beautiful, a terrible thing it was!

Library Journal

King Coal (1917) is to the mining world what Sinclair's The Jungle is to the meat-packing industry. Through protagonist Hal Warner, Sinclair reveals the abuses faced by immigrant mine workers.