{"id":551925633,"title":"Horrors of History: Massacre of the Miners","handle":"horrors-of-history-massacre-of-the-miners","description":"\u003ch1\u003eHorrors of History: Massacre of the Miners\u003c\/h1\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eA Novel\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c!-- - - - - - - - ENTER AUTHOR\/ILLUSTRATOR INFO BELOW - - - - - - - --\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBy: \u003ca href=\"http:\/\/www.charlesbridge.com\/pages\/t-neill-anderson\" title=\"T. Neill Anderson bio\"\u003eT. Neill Anderson\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c!-- - - - - - - - ENTER HEADING BELOW - - - - - - - --\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e“They’re gonna kill you! They’re gonna kill us all!”\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003c!-- - - - - - - - ENTER DESCRIPTION BELOW - - - - - - - --\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn 1914, coal miners of the Colorado Fuel \u0026amp; Iron Company went on strike following the company’s refusal to grant their requests for fair wages and better working conditions. After a seven month period peppered with violence in the strikers’ tent colony in Ludlow, Greek Easter arrived and brought some celebration to the colony. But with Colorado National Guard militiamen lurking on the edges of the tent camp, a strong sense of dread was in the air. Something horrific was coming.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBy noon on April 20, 1914 gunfire rained down on Ludlow sending men, women, and children to run for their lives or cower in crude dirt cellars below their tents. Eleven-year-old Frank Snyder, his father, mother, and four siblings were among these Ludlow colonists. As daylight broke the next day, the tent camp was nothing more than a smoldering pile of debris mixed with bodies of the victims.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis fourth installment in the Horrors of History series weaves real details from the Ludlow Massacre with compelling fictional dialog to tell the story of our nation’s most violent labor struggle. An example of the struggle that workers could face when confronting big business, this massacre and the ongoing violence that followed was a wake-up call that led to the rethinking of labor relations in our nation.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c!-- - - - - - - - - - - - ENTER RECOMMENDATIONS BELOW - - - - - - - -- - - --\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"recommended-books\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIf you like this book, you’ll enjoy these:\u003cbr\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.charlesbridgeteen.com\/products\/beyond-the-blue-border\"\u003eBeyond the Blue Border\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c!-- - - - - - - - - - - - START OF TABS - - - - - - - -- - - --\u003e [TABS] \n\u003ch5\u003eDownloadables\u003c\/h5\u003e\u003cimg alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0750\/0101\/files\/horrors-of-history-massacre-of-miners-cvr.jpg?11754434701864620616\" style=\"display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"btn-wrapper\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0750\/0101\/files\/horrors-of-history-massacre-of-miners-hires.zip?11754434701864620616\" class=\"product-btn\"\u003eDownload the Cover\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"btn-wrapper\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0750\/0101\/files\/massacre-of-miners-excerpt.pdf?15689595025888183948\" class=\"product-btn\"\u003eDownload the Excerpt\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c!-- - - - - - - - - - - - ENTER AUTHOR BIO BELOW - - - - - - - - - --\u003e\n\u003ch5\u003eAuthor \u0026amp; Illustrator\u003c\/h5\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eT. Neill Anderson, author\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eT. Neill Anderson is fascinated—and often horrified—by the countless true tales of America’s past stories. The Horrors of History series are his first books for young readers. He lives and writes in Brooklyn, New York.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"http:\/\/www.charlesbridge.com\/pages\/t-neill-anderson\" title=\"T. Neill Anderson\"\u003eRead more\u003c\/a\u003e about T. Neill Anderson.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c!-- - - - - - - - - ENTER AWARDS \u0026 HONORS BELOW - - - - - - - - --\u003e\n\u003ch5\u003eAwards \u0026amp; Honors\u003c\/h5\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNominee, VOYA’s Top Shelf: Fiction for Middle School Readers 2015\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNCSS 2016 Notable Social Studies Trade Books list\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c!-- - - - - - - - - - ENTER REVIEWS BELOW - - - - - - - - - --\u003e\n\u003ch5\u003eEditorial Reviews\u003c\/h5\u003e\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBooklist\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMore than one hundred years ago, on April 20, 1914, a violent labor struggle erupted at the Ludlow, Colorado, coal mine. Earlier, after Greek immigrant miners struck Colorado Fuel \u0026amp; Iron Company for better working conditions and higher wages, they and their families were evicted from company housing. Now, on Easter Sunday, the Colorado National Guard militia is \"itching for a fight,\" as are some of the miners. It's almost dark when shots ring out over the tent city. With panic running rampant and children screaming everywhere, chaos reigns. Some wives and children head to perceived safety, while others hunker down in dirt cellars. Events of the day move along in fairly short snippets, following particular individuals or families. It's almost as if readers are watching movie shorts yet are conscious of all the action. This fictional account of an actual event is written in a gripping narrative style and accompanied by archival black-and-white photographs. The epilogue and author's note give facts, figures, and sources for this intriguing title in the Horrors of History series.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSchool Library Journal\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnderson, author of several titles in the \"Horrors of History\" series, brings another tragedy to light. The author novelizes the true massacre at Ludlow, a camp of striking coal miners in Colorado. It is Easter season, 1914, and the miners, the Colorado Fuel \u0026amp; Iron Company, and the Colorado National Guard, are at a standstill. The strikers find they prefer their tent life to the difficulties of living in the company town, and the company and the National Guard have grown weary of the confrontation. A company wife sends a letter to the Guard, suggesting that the miners have kidnapped her husband because he refused to strike with them. The Guard takes this as an excuse to raid the camp, and after days of fruitless conversation, gunfire rains down. Families flee and hide. Men try to stand and fight. Lives are lost, and justice seems far away. The massacre is a true tragedy that may interest those who read historical fiction, but middle school students will need more context about what it meant to be a \"company man\" and a miner in order to understand the strike and to even begin to comprehend the shoot-out. VERDICT The plethora of back matter and other nonfiction elements make the novel a good fit for classroom literature circles or as part of a library booklist or display about mining life.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eVOYA Magazine\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn this latest novel in his Horrors of History series, Anderson writes about a little-known incident from U.S. labor history, the Ludlow Massacre that took place in southern Colorado in April, 1914. It was the culmination of a strike that forced miners and their families to spend months living in a cluster of tents, sometimes in cellars dug to shelter mothers and children from gunfire. The final clash between coal miners and Colorado national guardsmen claimed nineteen lives, including strike leader Louis Tikas, militiaman Pvt. Alfred Martin, twelve-year-old Frank Snyder who was shot in the back of the head, and two women and eleven of their children who suffocated in the cellar beneath a burned-out tent. All are characters included in the novel.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnderson switches between the strikers’ and guardsmen’s points of view, building suspense and elucidating some of the causes behind this gruesome event, though his decision to leave the story in Ludlow limits readers’ understanding of more complex political and economic forces. Anderson draws characters quickly, and while it may be a little too easy to cheer for the strikers and hiss at the guardsmen, readers will respond to them. As an added bonus, Anderson includes twenty-one historical photographs, including the haunting cover photo of a boy the right age to be Frank Snyder. An author’s note explains Anderson’s research and the challenges he faced in balancing fact and fiction. The book is a worthy complement to the many books about the Triangle Shirtwaist fire, especially for male readers.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/blockquote\u003e\n\u003c!-- - - - - - - - - - - - ENTER DETAILS BELOW - - - - - - - - - - - --\u003e\n\u003ch5\u003eDetails\u003c\/h5\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eHardcover\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003cbr\u003eISBN: 978-1-58089-520-0\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eE-book\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eISBN: 978-1-60734-786-6 EPUB\u003cbr\u003eISBN: 978-1-60734-711-8 PDF\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAges: 12+\u003cbr\u003ePage count: 144\u003cbr\u003e6 x 9\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eCorrelated to Common Core State Standards:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEnglish Language Arts-Literacy. Reading Literature. Grade 6. Standards 1-6, 10\u003cbr\u003eEnglish Language Arts-Literacy. Reading Literature. Grade 7. Standards 1-4, 6, 10\u003cbr\u003eEnglish Language Arts-Literacy. Reading Literature. Grade 8. Standards 1-4, 6, 10\u003cbr\u003eLiteracy in History\/Social Studies. Grades 6-8. Standards 1, 4-8, 10\u003c\/p\u003e\n[\/TABS]","published_at":"2015-05-01T16:11:00-04:00","created_at":"2015-05-01T15:33:30-04:00","vendor":"Charlesbridge","type":"Children's Book","tags":["Browse by Age_Middle Grade","Browse by Fiction\/Nonfiction_Fiction","Browse by Format_Novel","Browse by Language_English","Browse by Subject_History \u0026 Biography","Browse by Subject_Social Studies\/Cultures"],"price":848,"price_min":848,"price_max":848,"available":true,"price_varies":false,"compare_at_price":1595,"compare_at_price_min":1595,"compare_at_price_max":1595,"compare_at_price_varies":false,"variants":[{"id":1488311681,"title":"Hardcover","option1":"Hardcover","option2":null,"option3":null,"sku":"95200","requires_shipping":true,"taxable":false,"featured_image":{"id":12939358404687,"product_id":551925633,"position":1,"created_at":"2019-10-07T15:21:02-04:00","updated_at":"2020-04-13T12:43:30-04:00","alt":"Horrors of History: Massacre of the Miners book cover","width":600,"height":900,"src":"\/\/www.charlesbridgeteen.com\/cdn\/shop\/products\/horrors-of-history-massacre-of-miners-cover.jpg?v=1586796210","variant_ids":[1488311681]},"available":true,"name":"Horrors of History: Massacre of the Miners - Hardcover","public_title":"Hardcover","options":["Hardcover"],"price":848,"weight":467,"compare_at_price":1595,"inventory_quantity":400,"inventory_management":"shopify","inventory_policy":"continue","barcode":"978-1-58089-520-0","featured_media":{"alt":"Horrors of History: Massacre of the Miners book cover","id":2474098622543,"position":1,"preview_image":{"aspect_ratio":0.667,"height":900,"width":600,"src":"\/\/www.charlesbridgeteen.com\/cdn\/shop\/products\/horrors-of-history-massacre-of-miners-cover.jpg?v=1586796210"}},"requires_selling_plan":false,"selling_plan_allocations":[]}],"images":["\/\/www.charlesbridgeteen.com\/cdn\/shop\/products\/horrors-of-history-massacre-of-miners-cover.jpg?v=1586796210"],"featured_image":"\/\/www.charlesbridgeteen.com\/cdn\/shop\/products\/horrors-of-history-massacre-of-miners-cover.jpg?v=1586796210","options":["Title"],"media":[{"alt":"Horrors of History: Massacre of the Miners book cover","id":2474098622543,"position":1,"preview_image":{"aspect_ratio":0.667,"height":900,"width":600,"src":"\/\/www.charlesbridgeteen.com\/cdn\/shop\/products\/horrors-of-history-massacre-of-miners-cover.jpg?v=1586796210"},"aspect_ratio":0.667,"height":900,"media_type":"image","src":"\/\/www.charlesbridgeteen.com\/cdn\/shop\/products\/horrors-of-history-massacre-of-miners-cover.jpg?v=1586796210","width":600}],"requires_selling_plan":false,"selling_plan_groups":[],"content":"\u003ch1\u003eHorrors of History: Massacre of the Miners\u003c\/h1\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eA Novel\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c!-- - - - - - - - ENTER AUTHOR\/ILLUSTRATOR INFO BELOW - - - - - - - --\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBy: \u003ca href=\"http:\/\/www.charlesbridge.com\/pages\/t-neill-anderson\" title=\"T. Neill Anderson bio\"\u003eT. Neill Anderson\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c!-- - - - - - - - ENTER HEADING BELOW - - - - - - - --\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e“They’re gonna kill you! They’re gonna kill us all!”\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003c!-- - - - - - - - ENTER DESCRIPTION BELOW - - - - - - - --\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn 1914, coal miners of the Colorado Fuel \u0026amp; Iron Company went on strike following the company’s refusal to grant their requests for fair wages and better working conditions. After a seven month period peppered with violence in the strikers’ tent colony in Ludlow, Greek Easter arrived and brought some celebration to the colony. But with Colorado National Guard militiamen lurking on the edges of the tent camp, a strong sense of dread was in the air. Something horrific was coming.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBy noon on April 20, 1914 gunfire rained down on Ludlow sending men, women, and children to run for their lives or cower in crude dirt cellars below their tents. Eleven-year-old Frank Snyder, his father, mother, and four siblings were among these Ludlow colonists. As daylight broke the next day, the tent camp was nothing more than a smoldering pile of debris mixed with bodies of the victims.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis fourth installment in the Horrors of History series weaves real details from the Ludlow Massacre with compelling fictional dialog to tell the story of our nation’s most violent labor struggle. An example of the struggle that workers could face when confronting big business, this massacre and the ongoing violence that followed was a wake-up call that led to the rethinking of labor relations in our nation.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c!-- - - - - - - - - - - - ENTER RECOMMENDATIONS BELOW - - - - - - - -- - - --\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"recommended-books\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIf you like this book, you’ll enjoy these:\u003cbr\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.charlesbridgeteen.com\/products\/beyond-the-blue-border\"\u003eBeyond the Blue Border\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c!-- - - - - - - - - - - - START OF TABS - - - - - - - -- - - --\u003e [TABS] \n\u003ch5\u003eDownloadables\u003c\/h5\u003e\u003cimg alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0750\/0101\/files\/horrors-of-history-massacre-of-miners-cvr.jpg?11754434701864620616\" style=\"display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"btn-wrapper\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0750\/0101\/files\/horrors-of-history-massacre-of-miners-hires.zip?11754434701864620616\" class=\"product-btn\"\u003eDownload the Cover\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"btn-wrapper\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0750\/0101\/files\/massacre-of-miners-excerpt.pdf?15689595025888183948\" class=\"product-btn\"\u003eDownload the Excerpt\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c!-- - - - - - - - - - - - ENTER AUTHOR BIO BELOW - - - - - - - - - --\u003e\n\u003ch5\u003eAuthor \u0026amp; Illustrator\u003c\/h5\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eT. Neill Anderson, author\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eT. Neill Anderson is fascinated—and often horrified—by the countless true tales of America’s past stories. The Horrors of History series are his first books for young readers. He lives and writes in Brooklyn, New York.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"http:\/\/www.charlesbridge.com\/pages\/t-neill-anderson\" title=\"T. Neill Anderson\"\u003eRead more\u003c\/a\u003e about T. Neill Anderson.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c!-- - - - - - - - - ENTER AWARDS \u0026 HONORS BELOW - - - - - - - - --\u003e\n\u003ch5\u003eAwards \u0026amp; Honors\u003c\/h5\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNominee, VOYA’s Top Shelf: Fiction for Middle School Readers 2015\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNCSS 2016 Notable Social Studies Trade Books list\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c!-- - - - - - - - - - ENTER REVIEWS BELOW - - - - - - - - - --\u003e\n\u003ch5\u003eEditorial Reviews\u003c\/h5\u003e\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBooklist\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMore than one hundred years ago, on April 20, 1914, a violent labor struggle erupted at the Ludlow, Colorado, coal mine. Earlier, after Greek immigrant miners struck Colorado Fuel \u0026amp; Iron Company for better working conditions and higher wages, they and their families were evicted from company housing. Now, on Easter Sunday, the Colorado National Guard militia is \"itching for a fight,\" as are some of the miners. It's almost dark when shots ring out over the tent city. With panic running rampant and children screaming everywhere, chaos reigns. Some wives and children head to perceived safety, while others hunker down in dirt cellars. Events of the day move along in fairly short snippets, following particular individuals or families. It's almost as if readers are watching movie shorts yet are conscious of all the action. This fictional account of an actual event is written in a gripping narrative style and accompanied by archival black-and-white photographs. The epilogue and author's note give facts, figures, and sources for this intriguing title in the Horrors of History series.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSchool Library Journal\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnderson, author of several titles in the \"Horrors of History\" series, brings another tragedy to light. The author novelizes the true massacre at Ludlow, a camp of striking coal miners in Colorado. It is Easter season, 1914, and the miners, the Colorado Fuel \u0026amp; Iron Company, and the Colorado National Guard, are at a standstill. The strikers find they prefer their tent life to the difficulties of living in the company town, and the company and the National Guard have grown weary of the confrontation. A company wife sends a letter to the Guard, suggesting that the miners have kidnapped her husband because he refused to strike with them. The Guard takes this as an excuse to raid the camp, and after days of fruitless conversation, gunfire rains down. Families flee and hide. Men try to stand and fight. Lives are lost, and justice seems far away. The massacre is a true tragedy that may interest those who read historical fiction, but middle school students will need more context about what it meant to be a \"company man\" and a miner in order to understand the strike and to even begin to comprehend the shoot-out. VERDICT The plethora of back matter and other nonfiction elements make the novel a good fit for classroom literature circles or as part of a library booklist or display about mining life.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eVOYA Magazine\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn this latest novel in his Horrors of History series, Anderson writes about a little-known incident from U.S. labor history, the Ludlow Massacre that took place in southern Colorado in April, 1914. It was the culmination of a strike that forced miners and their families to spend months living in a cluster of tents, sometimes in cellars dug to shelter mothers and children from gunfire. The final clash between coal miners and Colorado national guardsmen claimed nineteen lives, including strike leader Louis Tikas, militiaman Pvt. Alfred Martin, twelve-year-old Frank Snyder who was shot in the back of the head, and two women and eleven of their children who suffocated in the cellar beneath a burned-out tent. All are characters included in the novel.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnderson switches between the strikers’ and guardsmen’s points of view, building suspense and elucidating some of the causes behind this gruesome event, though his decision to leave the story in Ludlow limits readers’ understanding of more complex political and economic forces. Anderson draws characters quickly, and while it may be a little too easy to cheer for the strikers and hiss at the guardsmen, readers will respond to them. As an added bonus, Anderson includes twenty-one historical photographs, including the haunting cover photo of a boy the right age to be Frank Snyder. An author’s note explains Anderson’s research and the challenges he faced in balancing fact and fiction. The book is a worthy complement to the many books about the Triangle Shirtwaist fire, especially for male readers.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/blockquote\u003e\n\u003c!-- - - - - - - - - - - - ENTER DETAILS BELOW - - - - - - - - - - - --\u003e\n\u003ch5\u003eDetails\u003c\/h5\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eHardcover\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003cbr\u003eISBN: 978-1-58089-520-0\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eE-book\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eISBN: 978-1-60734-786-6 EPUB\u003cbr\u003eISBN: 978-1-60734-711-8 PDF\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAges: 12+\u003cbr\u003ePage count: 144\u003cbr\u003e6 x 9\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eCorrelated to Common Core State Standards:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEnglish Language Arts-Literacy. Reading Literature. Grade 6. Standards 1-6, 10\u003cbr\u003eEnglish Language Arts-Literacy. Reading Literature. Grade 7. Standards 1-4, 6, 10\u003cbr\u003eEnglish Language Arts-Literacy. Reading Literature. Grade 8. Standards 1-4, 6, 10\u003cbr\u003eLiteracy in History\/Social Studies. Grades 6-8. Standards 1, 4-8, 10\u003c\/p\u003e\n[\/TABS]"}

Horrors of History: Massacre of the Miners

Horrors of History: Massacre of the Miners

A Novel

By: T. Neill Anderson

“They’re gonna kill you! They’re gonna kill us all!”

In 1914, coal miners of the Colorado Fuel & Iron Company went on strike following the company’s refusal to grant their requests for fair wages and better working conditions. After a seven month period peppered with violence in the strikers’ tent colony in Ludlow, Greek Easter arrived and brought some celebration to the colony. But with Colorado National Guard militiamen lurking on the edges of the tent camp, a strong sense of dread was in the air. Something horrific was coming.

By noon on April 20, 1914 gunfire rained down on Ludlow sending men, women, and children to run for their lives or cower in crude dirt cellars below their tents. Eleven-year-old Frank Snyder, his father, mother, and four siblings were among these Ludlow colonists. As daylight broke the next day, the tent camp was nothing more than a smoldering pile of debris mixed with bodies of the victims.

This fourth installment in the Horrors of History series weaves real details from the Ludlow Massacre with compelling fictional dialog to tell the story of our nation’s most violent labor struggle. An example of the struggle that workers could face when confronting big business, this massacre and the ongoing violence that followed was a wake-up call that led to the rethinking of labor relations in our nation.

$ 15.95
Maximum quantity available reached.

T. Neill Anderson, author

T. Neill Anderson is fascinated—and often horrified—by the countless true tales of America’s past stories. The Horrors of History series are his first books for young readers. He lives and writes in Brooklyn, New York.

Read more about T. Neill Anderson.

  • Nominee, VOYA’s Top Shelf: Fiction for Middle School Readers 2015
  • NCSS 2016 Notable Social Studies Trade Books list

Booklist

More than one hundred years ago, on April 20, 1914, a violent labor struggle erupted at the Ludlow, Colorado, coal mine. Earlier, after Greek immigrant miners struck Colorado Fuel & Iron Company for better working conditions and higher wages, they and their families were evicted from company housing. Now, on Easter Sunday, the Colorado National Guard militia is "itching for a fight," as are some of the miners. It's almost dark when shots ring out over the tent city. With panic running rampant and children screaming everywhere, chaos reigns. Some wives and children head to perceived safety, while others hunker down in dirt cellars. Events of the day move along in fairly short snippets, following particular individuals or families. It's almost as if readers are watching movie shorts yet are conscious of all the action. This fictional account of an actual event is written in a gripping narrative style and accompanied by archival black-and-white photographs. The epilogue and author's note give facts, figures, and sources for this intriguing title in the Horrors of History series.

School Library Journal

Anderson, author of several titles in the "Horrors of History" series, brings another tragedy to light. The author novelizes the true massacre at Ludlow, a camp of striking coal miners in Colorado. It is Easter season, 1914, and the miners, the Colorado Fuel & Iron Company, and the Colorado National Guard, are at a standstill. The strikers find they prefer their tent life to the difficulties of living in the company town, and the company and the National Guard have grown weary of the confrontation. A company wife sends a letter to the Guard, suggesting that the miners have kidnapped her husband because he refused to strike with them. The Guard takes this as an excuse to raid the camp, and after days of fruitless conversation, gunfire rains down. Families flee and hide. Men try to stand and fight. Lives are lost, and justice seems far away. The massacre is a true tragedy that may interest those who read historical fiction, but middle school students will need more context about what it meant to be a "company man" and a miner in order to understand the strike and to even begin to comprehend the shoot-out. VERDICT The plethora of back matter and other nonfiction elements make the novel a good fit for classroom literature circles or as part of a library booklist or display about mining life.

VOYA Magazine

In this latest novel in his Horrors of History series, Anderson writes about a little-known incident from U.S. labor history, the Ludlow Massacre that took place in southern Colorado in April, 1914. It was the culmination of a strike that forced miners and their families to spend months living in a cluster of tents, sometimes in cellars dug to shelter mothers and children from gunfire. The final clash between coal miners and Colorado national guardsmen claimed nineteen lives, including strike leader Louis Tikas, militiaman Pvt. Alfred Martin, twelve-year-old Frank Snyder who was shot in the back of the head, and two women and eleven of their children who suffocated in the cellar beneath a burned-out tent. All are characters included in the novel.

Anderson switches between the strikers’ and guardsmen’s points of view, building suspense and elucidating some of the causes behind this gruesome event, though his decision to leave the story in Ludlow limits readers’ understanding of more complex political and economic forces. Anderson draws characters quickly, and while it may be a little too easy to cheer for the strikers and hiss at the guardsmen, readers will respond to them. As an added bonus, Anderson includes twenty-one historical photographs, including the haunting cover photo of a boy the right age to be Frank Snyder. An author’s note explains Anderson’s research and the challenges he faced in balancing fact and fiction. The book is a worthy complement to the many books about the Triangle Shirtwaist fire, especially for male readers.

Hardcover
ISBN: 978-1-58089-520-0

E-book
ISBN: 978-1-60734-786-6 EPUB
ISBN: 978-1-60734-711-8 PDF

Ages: 12+
Page count: 144
6 x 9

Correlated to Common Core State Standards:
English Language Arts-Literacy. Reading Literature. Grade 6. Standards 1-6, 10
English Language Arts-Literacy. Reading Literature. Grade 7. Standards 1-4, 6, 10
English Language Arts-Literacy. Reading Literature. Grade 8. Standards 1-4, 6, 10
Literacy in History/Social Studies. Grades 6-8. Standards 1, 4-8, 10