1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910787379503321

Autore

Kroll-Smith J. Stephen <1947->

Titolo

The real disaster is above ground : a mine fire & social conflict / / J. Stephen Kroll-Smith, Stephen Robert Couch

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Lexington : , : The University Press of Kentucky, , 1990

©1990

ISBN

0-8131-8473-8

0-8131-5056-6

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (211 pages) : illustrations

Disciplina

363.3/497

Soggetti

Mine fires - Social aspects - Pennsylvania - Centralia

Mine fires - Social aspects

Social conflict

Centralia (Pa.) Social conditions

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

"Paperback edition 2009"--T. p. verso.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. [178]-197) and index.

Nota di contenuto

Cover; Title; Copyright; Contents; Preface; Introduction: A Dying Coal Town; 1 King Coal Built a Town but Not a Community; 2 The Engineering Puzzle, 1962-1981; 3 Ambiguous Evidence and Contradictory Signals; 4 A Group Emerges and the Town Divides; 5 Confrontation and Conflict; 6 A Thwarted Struggle for Unity; 7 One Town, Many Groups; 8 ""This Town Is Dead""; 9 Making Sociological Sense of the Story; Appendix: Participatory Research in Centralia; Notes; Index;

Sommario/riassunto

In the 1950's Centralia was a small town, like many others in the anthracite region of Pennsylvania. But since the 1960's, it has been consumed, outwardly and inwardly by a fire that has inexorably spread in the abandoned mines beneath it. The earth smokes, subsides, and breathes poisonous gases. No less destructive has been the spread of dissension and enmity among the townspeople.  The Real Disaster Above Ground tells the story of the fire and the tragic failure of all efforts to counter it.