Well known for The Jungle, his scathing exposé of the Chicago meatpacking industry at the turn of the 20th century, Upton Sinclair here takes on yet another massive industry: coal mining.

Based on the 1914 and 1915 Colorado coal strikes, King Coal describes the abhorrent conditions faced by workers in the western United States' coal mining industry during the 1910s. The story follows Hal Warner, a rich man looking to get a better view of the lives of commoners. It is a tale of struggle, threats, and violence, of hardened men and the advocacy for workers' rights. In this business, the road to unionization is a rocky one.