A rambling and unconventional history of coal mining in the Upper Ohio Valley, 1760-2012 Coal miners have a way of becoming heroes to kids. They are, for the most part, people who know what they can do. They drive big machines and go deep underground in the dark. They have hard-toed boots and hard hats and those fascinating cap lamps. They are Authorized Personnel Only, so powerful they can walk past doors with those signs on them. They can work in a group or survive alone. They look at stuff fit to turn some people to quivering Jello, and they don't turn a hair. It's the job, they all...