Mine Work

By Jim Davidson

When Markus Cottin begins digging into some family mysteries his father tells him he will find "only a chain of fools, each one worse than the one that came before." His search takes him to Colorado mining towns, to the Navajo reservation, and around the desert Four Corners region, and the story he uncovers is a painful one of race politics and labor unrest in the 1950s West. After he finds his own family involved in bombings and the murder of a Navajo miner, he can't stop until the story leads him back, link by link to his grandfather, his father, and ultimately himself.A powerful novel of the Southwest, Mine Work is told with feeling and style by a writer who knows the region, road by dusty road.When first published in 2000, Mine Work won two coveted Spur Awards from the Western Writers of America for best original paperback and best first novel. In multiple printings it became an admired classic of Western writing.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 094128333X
• ISBN13: 9780941283335
• Release Date: February 2012
• Publisher: Western Eye Press
• Length: 312 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Anguished Family Past Interweaves with Personal Justice

Written with a compassion for working men in much the same vein as John Steinbeck, "Mine Work" treats the ruins of memory and the need for family reconciliation in the backdrop of desolate mining country in the Southwest. The author, Jim Davidson, deftly inerweaves the present (in which a tormented son despeately attempts to piece together three generations of family tragedy) and the past (in which a compelling narrative of injustice, racism, and personal pain) seamlessly.One of the significant themes of this beautifully-paced first novel is the disgraceful treatment of Native Americans by rapacious industry and racist individuals. Markus Cottin's quest for knowledge and inner-peace cannot exist without a coming to grips with this aspect of history. The author has not written a polemic, however; Mr. Davidson's language is elegant, spare and precise.

Not your standard western fare...

MINE WORK is not your standard western fare. It combines mystery with an episodic quest for a middle-age man's family history and identity. The story focuses on the plight of Markus Cottin and his search for a reason why he's estranged from his father and why a troubled younger brother committed suicide. Along the way, the author weaves in many little known historical and social elements of the 1940's and 1950's American West, including the struggles of the socially disenfranchised Navajo Nation, a dimension which lends this story a Hillerman-esque feel. The novel was a little difficult to digest in the early sections, however after a few chapters this reader was absolutely enthralled with the story. The writing is vivid and accomplished - the story itself, heart-wrenching. Small company politics and manipulations mangled many laborers' lives during this bleak era, including the parents of Markus Cottin, about whom he knows almost nothing. Physically and emotionally alienated from a father who lives as a hermit and spits venom on the rare occasions they meet, Cottin pursues all leads in the hope that someone can give him some idea of who his father is, and why he's so consumed with bitterness and hatred. Revelation comes at last when Cottin is made to understand the horribly tragic experience of the oppressed working-class Colorado miners, second only in emotional devastation faced by the economically hapless Navajos. The author succeeds wonderfully in bringing these peoples' heroic struggles to life, allowing the reader to look back at a excruciatingly tragic episode in 20th Century American history. MINE WORK is a powerful "western". I'd recommend to my friends of the most sophisticated tastes. This novel is as go