The scapegoat

Description:

In a novel about casual and heedless acts that often lead to unthinkable results, Mary Lee Settle traces the fall of a West Virginia town that was first made rich by coal, then corrupted and destroyed by it. Set in 1912, the story propels readers with astonishing immediacy to a fateful day in a coal miners' strike in which relatives of the Beulah dynasty, only dimly aware of their blood ties, confront one another on opposing sides of the dispute. Emotions escalate to a frenzy of violence as Mother Jones, leader of the striking miners, calls for action in a community devastated by Southern resignation and by guilt associated with selling out to Eastern investors.

subjects: Fiction,  Coal mines and mining,  Coal miners,  Strikes and lockouts,  Fiction, historical,  West virginia, fiction,  Large type books,  Fiction, historical, general,  Coal mining

Places: West Virginia