Making use of economic theory and statistics, this study examines the economic lives of American coal miners in the early part of the 20th century. It emphasizes the competition among employers for labour, legal rights, the state of the labour market and the impact of trade unions.

This text provides a comparative perspective on two major coalfields, in order to allow a historically constructed view of the patterns of experience and behaviour in mining communities.

Its critical influence is shown in its pioneering role in the development of industrial unionism, in its efforts at interracial and interethnic organizing, and in its indispensable role in founding and guiding the CIO between 1935 and 1955.

In this book, Dr. Perchard attempts to redress the exclusion of colliery managers and other mining professionals from the history of British, and particularly Scottish, coal industries by examining these groups within the most crucial period of their ascendancy, 1930-1966, in the Scottish coal mining industry. This work seeks to place such persons within their context and to examine their roles, statuses and behaviours through their relationships with employees and the execution of their functions, also examining their terms and conditions of employment, the outlook of their professional associations, and that of their union. Through all this, Dr. Perchard illustrates how this growing consciousness amongst managerial employees in the industry was accompanied by an intense public discussion, within the mining professions, over their future shape, principles and occupational standards.