Coal

In this remarkable book, Barbara Freese presents a historical journey that spans hundreds of millions of years and covers the entire world. Coal has been highly valued, even by ancient Romans who crafted jewelry from it and praised it as "the best stone in Britain." However, this resource's ability to transform societies and power our electric grid has come at a steep cost, including centuries of pollution and the current global climate crisis. From London's "great stinking fogs" to Pennsylvania's rat-infested coal mines, from the slums of Manchester to the polluted streets of Beijing, Coal tells a powerful story about a seemingly ordinary substance that has profoundly shaped human civilization.