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Face Boss: The Memoir of a Western Kentucky Coal Miner

Eighteen years underground at a western Kentucky coal mine, told from the inside.
Reading guide
This is a standalone memoir, so there is no order to follow. Start at the beginning and read through, as the account follows Guillerman's career from his first jobs to his role as section foreman.
The memoir follows Michael D. Guillerman's nearly eighteen years at Camp No. 2, moving from his early jobs on the belt and in the timbers to his post as a salaried section foreman. Along the way he describes the hazards, strikes and layoffs of the trade, alongside the humour and pride of working with his crew.

Description

Face Boss is Michael D. Guillerman's memoir of nearly eighteen years working underground at the Peabody Coal Company's Camp No. 2 mine in Union County, Kentucky. He began as a belt shoveler and moved through jobs as a timberman, shooter, shuttle car operator and rock duster before becoming a salaried section foreman, the face boss of the title. He wrote it after the 2006 Sago disaster, when he felt the media had little understanding of what mining work is really like.

The book is frank about the dangers of the trade, including methane ignitions, mine fires, squeezes, injuries, wildcat strikes and layoffs. It is also warm and often funny, with plenty of anecdotes about the camaraderie and the pride of bringing out hundreds of tons of coal every day. Guillerman writes thoughtfully about race relations within mining culture and the growing number of women in the industry. It suits anyone curious about working lives in the American coalfields.

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