ANTHRACITE BOOT CAMP

"ANTHRACITE BOOT CAMP” is a non-fiction story about life around Pennsylvania coal mines, as seen at the middle of the Twentieth Century through the eyes of a young boy. With maps and figures included, it recalls childhood experiences that are historical, amusing, and/or danger-filled, such as:

• A collection of frightening episodes, as when the boy witnesses a dragline operated by his father about to topple into a pit as depicted on the book's cover, or when the boy must crawl under the screaming dragline to repetitively adjust its' crawler brakes off and on as it strains to climb up a steep hill, or when he observes a dog-hole's sudden rock roof collapse only 8 to 10 feet in front of him.

• A collection of humorous episodes as when miners tease the frightened 9 year-old into believing he is pursued by a hungry bear, or tease him with crude "mature adult" questions that the boy doesn't understand, but tries to comprehend later by naively repeating the question to his horrified mother, or when the boy eventually adopts his father's practice of occasional, but often dangerous, pranks on co-workers and friends.

• An adventure as when the boy travels underground at age 11 to assist miners in dog-holes where they barely fit, or when at age 13 he enters an abandoned mine with his father to help drill and blast a drain hole beneath a water-filled mine pit, or when as a young teenager, he enthusiastically volunteers to operate large bulldozers, steam-shovels, and dump-trucks, but occasionally, with alarming results.

• Amusing references to the cultural standards of the boy's Italian ancestors, including angry linguistic(and un-translatable) outbursts when mining equipment failed to function, or their joyous linguistic outbursts in exciting bocce league matches at the miners' social clubs, or his grandmothers' frightened reactions when initially introduced to their future spouse(Lou's Grandfathers) prior to a pre-arranged marriage imposed on them by others in their family around 1915.

• Introductory chapters with historical reminders of the hardships of early immigrants, and review of their typical battle for survival prior to and during The Great Depression. The review is intended to help readers understand the roots of the odd behavior of miners that Lou identifies later in the story, and who were the direct descendants of those early European Immigrants.

• A reliable account of typical coal-mining means and methods applied by miners at that time, including definitions of terminology, figures of equipment, slang expressions, and diagrams of mines.

• A final chapter of lessons in honor, team collaboration, and hard work handed down from previous generations of miners, including a description of the manner in which these "GUNG-HO" lessons can inspire our current society to improve service to family, clients, and country, to help reduce our current level of civil unrest.

• "ANTHRACITE BOOT CAMP” is an educational and entertaining story for readers of all ages with many references to famous hit songs, including classics out of the past that help the reader sense, interpret, and appreciate the level of passion within certain highly emotional events. One example is the reference to the danger occurring in the scene on the book's front cover, and the author's reference to "The Ecstasy of Gold" to interpret his Father's hard-fought battle with the dragline, and the fearfully imminent catastrophe.