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Fire and Brimstone

The North Butte Mining Disaster of 1917

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Fire and Brimstone

By: Michael Punke
Narrated by: William Roberts
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From the #1 international bestselling author of The Revenant – the book that inspired the award-winning movie – comes the remarkable true story of the worst mining disaster in American history.

In 1917, the lives of a company of miners changed forever when the underground labyrinth of tunnels in which they worked burst into flames. Within an hour, more than four hundred men would be locked in a battle to survive. Within three days, one hundred and sixty-four of them would be dead.

 Animals Biological Sciences Earth Sciences Environment Labour & Industrial Relations Outdoors & Nature Politics & Government Science Natural Disaster Emotionally Gripping Mining American History
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Critic reviews

‘Compelling if horrifying account of the fire and the trapped men is the heart of this yarn, its soul is Punke’s historical contextualization’ PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
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From the sample I was apprehensive over buying the title... no need. A well structured account of the mining tragedy and politics of the period. William Roberts’ narration’s great. Grabbing your attention and keeping it there all the way.

Well written and great performance.

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A historical telling of the mine disaster in 1917. A man's lamp gets too close to a cable, the fire starts small but grows. Told from a third party perspective we can follow all the participants includes those inside and outside the mine. I found it to be interesting and informative, and the book also details the history of the mine and the community. It seems well researched, but it also goes off at a tangent slightly by providing information about unions and worker rights and jumps around in time to 1914 then back to 1917. Listening on audio I found this confusing.

The narrator was excellent. He gives a straightforward telling of the book, as appropriate for the subject. But he doesn't make it boring. With a bit more editing and purpose this could have been better, but is well worth a listen.

Great narration

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