Just like in the Jungle, Upton Sinclair based King Coal off real events. The Jungle was based on the Chicago meatpacking plants and their strikes. However, King Coal turned to a different line of manufacturing. As title suggests, King Coal is based on coal mining in the early 1910s. It tries to encapsulate the wide range of hardships the miners experienced. However, in order to fully understand the events of King Coal, one must look deeper at the historical events and the social climate of the time. Sinclair’s inspiration for the novel came from the Colorado Coal Field Strike and War of 1913-1914. The strike lasted nearly 14 months and became a deadly episode in American history. It all began in September of 1913, when workers Colorado’s
