Former Attorney General Howard Lee sets forth the fascinating story of West Virginia's mine wars, and examines the role that coal has played in the state's economic and social history. Lee tells of battles on Paint Creek, armed Baldwin-Felts agents, and violence against the miners. He also tells of the East coast millionaires who bilked West Virginia landowners of their riches, and unscrupulous company agents who recruited unsuspecting southerners and immigrants to sign on for a lifetime of dangerous work in dismal coal camps.