Growing up in Coal Country intertwines oral histories with the historical account of the past to create a narrative that reads like a story. Each chapter begins with a photograph and a quotation from a "Coal Country" survivor. The boys and men speak not of a romantic past but of a past filled with hard work, tragedy, hope, and family. The photographs and stories of the miners and their families convey their pain and their pride. This is no dry history textbook: the miners' stories come alive through the text and pictures. Growing up in Coal Country provides a vivid portrait through stories and photographs of people and places.

Bartoletti's narrative offers much insight into the everyday life of the turn-of-thecentury coal miner. To keep the story from becoming a textbook narrative, she uses oral histories and quotations from the children and adults who lived in...