Coal — A Human History

Why it’s on the list: Barbara Freese on coal as the hinge of the industrial world — London’s smoke, the British and American mining economies, and the political durability of the cheapest fuel available.

Where I heard about it

• Replies to @WillManidis — named in the replies to his question “what is the single best book you can read that will explain an entire industry?”, June 2025.

Connections

• what is the single best book… (tweet) — the saved thread this recommendation came from.
• Energy · Mining · Technological Innovation — where this sits in the corpus.