Rebels in the Shadows (Golden Triangle Books)

Dramatizing the very real plight of coal miners in the Pennsylvania anthracite fields in the 1870s, Rebels in the Shadows tells the story of the legendary secret society known as the Molly Maguires. The time is the explosive 1870s; the place, the hard-coal fields of Pennsylvania. The Flannery family, like all the others in Pottsville, barely eke out a living from the mines. Out of frustration and anger, a group of coal miners organizes a secret society to fight the coal mine operators. The mine owners strike back, resulting in atrocities on both sides.

In the midst of this upheaval, a charming stranger arrives in town. The newcomer, Red McKenna, quickly befriends fifteen-year-old Sean Flannery, and Sean’s sister, Kitty, falls in love with him. But when raids by the Mollies are ambushed by the Coal and Iron Police, Red is suspected of being a spy for the mine owners. The violence escalates, and the Flannery family is left to deal with the consequences of one of the first truly tragic labor conflicts in America.

The violent activities of the Molly Maguires in the Pennsylvania coal fields during the 1870's leave their mark on a family of Irish immigrants.

Dramatizing the very real plight of coal miners in the Pennsylvania anthracite fields in the 1870s, Rebels in the Shadows tells the story of the legendary secret society known as the Molly Maguires. The time is the explosive 1870s; the place, the hard-coal fields of Pennsylvania. The Flannery family, like all the others in Pottsville, barely eke out a living from the mines. Out of frustration and anger, a group of coal miners organizes a secret society to fight the coal mine operators. The mine owners strike back, resulting in atrocities on both sides.

In the midst of this upheaval, a charming stranger arrives in town. The newcomer, Red McKenna, quickly befriends fifteen-year-old Sean Flannery, and Sean's sister, Kitty, falls in love with him. But when raids by the Mollies are ambushed by the Coal and Iron Police, Red is suspected of being a spy for the mine owners. The violence escalates, and the Flannery family is left to deal with the consequences of one of the first truly tragic labor conflicts in America.

Intended for middle school readers, ages 11—14, Rebels in the Shadows offers a historically accurate version of a tumultuous time in the Pennsylvania coal mines based on actual documents of the period. Rebels in the Shadows also tells the story of a young man dealing with the demands of adulthood, a father forced to change his beliefs, a mother coping with grief, a young woman discovering and losing love, and a stranger who must choose between duty and morality. Unlike many of the accounts of the period, Reilly has tried to depict opposing sides fairly, and the book offers another look at the plight of the Irish immigrant in America.

As with the other Golden Triangle Books, Rebels in the Shadows contains a foreword and an afterword on the historical themes and personalities in the novel.

KLIATT

In the 1870s, the coal miners in the hills of Pennsylvania were at the mercy of the mine owners. They worked under deplorable conditions and almost everything in the town was owned by the men who ran the mines. Rebels in the Shadows presents the Flannery family—Mike, the father who tries to do his best; fifteen-year-old Sean, who loses his older brother to violence; and Kitty, the sister who falls for the town stranger who turns out to be a Pinkerton detective. It is also the story of the Molly Maguires—a secret society based on violence that gradually led the way to peaceful coal miners' unions. Greenhorn on the Frontier tells of Harry and his sister Sukey, who leave home to farm 500 acres in rural Pennsylvania. They meet an unscrupulous woodsman who tries to take their land away, and Sukey falls for the blacksmith who has two slaves even though she is violently opposed to slavery. The novel also deals with Virginia and Pennsylvania and their border disputes. Golden Triangle Books has a Web site that you can access to give you additional material to use with the books in the classroom. For instance, with Rebels in the Shadows, the site gives you lesson plans, family activities, and information on coal and coal mining, labor and labor unions, and child labor. For Greenhorn on the Frontier, there is information on the Revolutionary War, the Shawnee, agriculture and farming, as well as a bibliography of further reading. The books are recommended for ages 9 to 14, but they can definitely be used for high school-age reluctant readers. The historical facts are accurate and the writing will interest even those who are not history buffs. KLIATT Codes: J—Recommended for juniorhigh school students. 1962, Univ. of Pittsburgh Press/Golden Triangle, 185p, 21cm, $12.95. Ages 13 to 15. Reviewer: Barbara Jo McKee; Libn/Media Dir., Streetsboro H.S., Stow, OH, September 2000 (Vol. 34 No. 5)

Robert T. Reilly, professor emeritus (Communiation) from the University of Nebraska at Omaha, and a public relations practitioner prior to his teaching career, has been a freelance writer for over 50 years. Besides his 13 published books, Reilly has written over 200 television and documentary film scripts, nearly a thousand articles in dozens of national publications, has published short stories and poetry, scripted pageants, written song lyrics, wrote a long-running newspaper column, and has been editor or contributing editor to half a dozen corporate and organizational magazines. In his retirement, he continues to work as a writer and editor. His writing interests include Irish subjects, profiles of living Americans, history and western themes. Reilly is married and he and his wife, Jean, raised 10 children, five of whom are also published writers.