Coal

Starred review from January 13, 2003
Coal has been both lauded for its efficiency as a heating fuel and maligned for the lung-wrenching black smoke it gives off. In her first book, Freese, an assistant attorney general of Minnesota (where she helps enforce environmental laws), offers an exquisite chronicle of the rise and fall of this bituminous black mineral. Both the Romans and the Chinese used coal ornamentally long before they discovered its flammable properties. Once its use as a heating source was discovered in early Roman Britain, coal replaced wood as Britain's primary energy source. The jet-black mineral spurred the Industrial Revolution and inspired the invention of the steam engine and the railway. Freese narrates the discovery of coal in the colonies, the development of the first U.S. coal town, Pittsburgh, and the history of coal in China. Despite its allure as a cheap and warm energy source, coal carries a high environmental cost. Burning it produces sulfur dioxide and carbon dioxide in such quantities that, during the Clinton administration, the EPA targeted coal-burning power plants as the single worst air polluters. Using EPA studies, Freese shows that coal emissions kill about 30,000 people a year, causing nearly as many deaths as traffic accidents and more than homicides and AIDS. The author contends that alternate energy sources must be found to ensure a healthier environment for future generations. Part history and part environmental argument, Freese's elegant book teaches an important lesson about the interdependence of humans and their natural environment both for good and ill throughout history. (Feb.)Forecast:General science readers as well as those interested in the environment will seek this out, informed about it by a four-city author tour and a 20-market radio satellite tour.

February 15, 2004
Coal has been used for decorative, heating, and manufacturing purposes since prehistoric times. This is the story of the role played by this energy source in the human history of English and American life. Coal's importance to medieval manufacturing guilds, as a source of energy for the Industrial Revolution, as a longstanding source of urban blight, and as a politically divisive, potentially life-destroying pollutant are discussed in detail. Less attention is given to technical achievements such as the critical interaction between coal and iron needed for smelting and high-grade steel production. Prehistoric (pre-Roman) and, except for China, non-Western cultures are omitted. Those looking for a more global work about coal itself should look elsewhere. While much more limited in scope than the title suggests, this book is an amusing example of "lite" nonfiction. Shelly Frasier gives a competent reading, and the author's writing style is admirably suited to the audio format. Recommended for larger public and moderate to large academic libraries.-I. Pour-El, Des Moines Area Community Coll., Boone, IA

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