The Red-Winged Blackbird

“The whole world operates on coal, boys.  Men will kill for it.  That makes a miner pretty damn powerful.”

Powerful, yes.  But in the viperous worlds of mining, union organizing and warfare, digging coal can also make a miner a sitting duck. 

Alan Tanner reckons he’s just another coalass trying to make a living, care for his family and have a little fun.  Trouble is, death stalks him.  His mine explodes and the stench of bloody carcasses lingers. The UMW secretly organizes and risks a strike.  Brutal guards and soldiers threaten.  Gunrunning flourishes.  Hostilities rupture into battle.  After fending off machine gun and rifle fire all day, the young miner watches helplessly as the tent homes of a thousand strikers erupt in flame. The New York Times calls it “the Ludlow Massacre.”  Screams of trapped widows and orphans haunt Tanner.  It’s time for revenge.    

The war surrounding the Colorado coal strike of 1913-14 is the bloodiest, costliest labor dispute in American history‒but few have heard of it.  With The Red-Winged Blackbird, this pivotal catastrophe springs to life with a ferocious, real-time authenticity that can only come from one who lived it.  As Alan describes his evolution from a whore-mongering, drunken wage-slave to a wise and witty storyteller, the past becomes prologue.  The plight of coal miners fighting for safe working conditions and a living wage, the difficult birth of the union movement, the emerging struggle for women’s rights, the clash of immigrant cultures, the assault by rogue elements of law enforcement, the degradation of the natural environment, even the enticement of sex, drugs and wild music‒it’s déjà vu all over again. 

By turns humorous and heart-rending, Tanner’s saga chronicles the depths men will plummet for hunks of coal and the right to dig them.

THE RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD

By Bob Reed

SAMPLE QUESTIONS FOR BOOK CLUBS

1.       Why do you think Reed chose The Red-Winged Blackbird as his title?

2.      How does Alan change during the course of the novel?  Do you think these changes are believable?     

3.      In your opinion, was the pivotal event a battle or a massacre?  Were the miners victims?

4.      Do you think the union was a benefit to the miners and their families or an impairment?

5.     Do you see parallels between the events presented in the novel and contemporary life?

6.     Could this tragedy have been mitigated or averted completely if the miners had been better armed?

7.      Considering the persons involved and the circumstances extant, was this tragedy inevitable?

8.      Historical fiction depends upon plausibility.  McKintrick and Grady seem almost supernatural in their ability to survive and thrive.  Does this use of "magical realism" make the story less believable or does it add interest?

9.      Why do you think Alan is so hostile toward the UMWA when his brother and his friends strongly support it?

10.     How important is humor in the novel?  What characters and situations do you find humorous?