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The Bibliophile

These accomplished writers will mesmerize you with their fascinating accounts of true crime, the life of a beloved local figure, and a forgotten chapter in aviation history.

Blood Runs Coal: The Yablonski Murders and the Battle for the United Mine Workers of America, by Mark A. Bradley, 368 pages, W.W. Norton & Company paperback, 2021

On December 9, 1969, Joseph Yablonski lost to incumbent United Mine Workers President Tony Boyle in a rigged election.

On December 31, he, his wife and daughter were killed during the early morning hours in their Clarksville, Pennsylvania home. They were murdered by three intruders — assassins hired by Boyle. All were charged, convicted and imprisoned.

The shocking murders brought to the forefront the culture of violence in coal country and the corruption of officials of the UMW. Yablonski himself had gone along with that prevailing ethos before his insurgency.

Blood Runs Coal follows the investigation, trials, testimony, confessions and sentences. Ralph Nader, Joseph Rauh, George Schultz and others who may be familiar to older readers play roles, both major and minor.

The subsequent defeat of Boyle in a fair election monitored by the government brought closure to the surviving sons. An epilogue updates the story to the present. Eight pages of black-and-white photographs enhance the story.

Author Mark Bradley, who is in his 60s, resides in Arlington, Virginia. He is director of the Information Security Oversight Office of the National Archives. Blood Runs Coal was a finalist for the 2021 Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Fact Crime book.

Funny Business: The Legendary Life and Political Satires of Art Buchwald, by Michael Hill, 309 pages, Random House hardcover, 2022

Enjoy once again the wit of Art Buchwald in this enchanting account. Buchwald’s voluminous papers were acquired by the Library of Congress in 2017, a decade after his death at age 81. They provide the material for this rollicking profile.

At the height of Buchwald’s career, his syndicated column appeared in more than 550 newspapers. He made lucrative personal appearances on the lecture circuit, published more than 40 books, wrote a Broadway play, and won the Pulitzer Prize for Outstanding Commentary in 1982.

Funny Business entertains readers with excerpts from his famous columns, one-liners — which were referred to as Buchshots — and tongue-in-cheek letters he exchanged with prominent friends. Gain an appreciation of the man who punctured the pompous and poked fun at the powerful and pretentious.

The poignant account of his childhood and later bouts with depression add context to the story of a remarkable individual blessed with prodigious talent.

Author and research historian Michael Hill, who is in his 60s, resides in Fredericksburg, Virginia.

The Great Air Race: Glory, Tragedy, and the Dawn of American Aviation, by John Lancaster, 346 pages, Liveright hardcover, 2022

With the end of World War I, the future role of the U.S. government in fostering the aviation industry was — one might say — up in the air.

Brigadier General Billy Mitchell, then assistant chief of the U.S. Air Service, envisioned a peacetime Air Force and a federal airmail postal service. The publicity generated by a transcontinental air race would spur Congress to fund those endeavors.

The Great Air Race is the story of that October 1919 competition. The race, conducted by the U.S. Army Air Service, the forerunner of the Air Force, was open to military pilots. The 5,200-mile round-trip course included 20 compulsory stops in each direction. A ragtag fleet of 63 military aircraft entered. The fastest pilot clocked 48 hours and 14 minutes aloft.

This thrilling account includes details of the challenges the pilots faced and the obstacles they overcame. Marvel at the bravado of the death-defying pilots. Follow their exploits on a map of the route along with 21 black-and-white photographs.

Sexagenarian John Lancaster is a former Washington Post reporter who resides in D.C. He retraced the race route himself, piloting a small two-seater aircraft.

The paperback edition of The Great Air Race is due out in November.