Merging Pulitzer Prize winning investigative journalism with a compelling narrative, Soul Full of Coal Dust is one of the best books I've read this year! I think books like this, sort of long form exposés, are one of my new favorite genres. It echoes all of the things I loved about Patrick Radden Keefe's Empire of Pain, which followed the Sackler family across decades of their history and highlighted the corruption that led to the Opioid crisis along the way. I love the incredible depth of information, and the perspective the reader gets from following a subject for years and years on end. I really can't understate it - I'm blown away by the sheer amount of research that goes into writing a book like Hamby's. Decades of history surrounding coal mining, the black lung benefits system, and U.S. labor reform in general from the 1960s all the way to the 2010s is covered in this book. I also watched the segments that ABC put out in conjunction with Hamby's news agency and they were so astounding. Hearing Paul Wheeler speak was so shocking. It was truly as if he thought he had done nothing wrong! Most interesting to me is that Hamby's original news articles detailing the struggles Appalachian coal miners were facing as well as the corruption in the Jackson & Kelly law firm and Johns Hopkins/Wheeler came out around 2013, but this book wasn't published until 2020. It was amazing to follow along with Hamby as he put together the pieces for his 2013 exposé, but even more fascinating to read what happened in the seven years following. Unfortunately, it's not uncommon for us to hear stories of good people suffering unduly. Appalachian coal miners definitely fall into that bucket. But it's not so often that we actually get to read about these people getting justice, about things getting better for them. There still is so much work to be done, but I think Soul Full of Coal Dust highlights the process of making progress. The reforms that miners advocacy groups won took literal decades, and even once instated, were often repealed, de-clawed, or supremely ignored by those in power. It was very insightful to read such detailed accounts of the activists involved and how they dealt with setbacks. It made me feel more optimistic about the future, and more aware of the amount of organizing and effort that is needed to make lasting change. Unfortunately, it seems that many Appalachian coal miners are still not getting their due. I read some recent articles, published since this book's release, and it seems that black lung remains on the rise. This is primarily due to the increased amount of silica dust that miners are exposed to as they must now mine through more rock to reach coal seams. It seems that many of the regulations put in place previously are specific to coal dust, and more needs to be done to protect workers against silica dust, which is more heavily implicated in black lung. This is definitely a story I will keep following.