Burning Valley

About the Book

Originally published in 1953, Burning Valley tells the story of Benedict Bulmanis, son of a Lithuanian immigrant steel worker in western Pennsylvania. Determined to become a priest, Benedict faces inner conflict as he witnesses the steelworkers' struggle against the destruction of their homes and the separation of classes that even his church cannot escape. As the story unfolds, Benedict loses his faith in God but acquires a new faith, in the power of the working class and the justice of their cause. Alan Wald's introduction focuses on the semi-autobiographical aspect of the book as well as its "multifaceted dramatization of ethnicity and race."

"I love the novel very much. It is rare to find a good book about the working class written by one of them." -- Simone de Beauvoir

"Phillip Bonosky has cast a novel as searing as the yellow hot steel slag which pours over the cliffs of his Hunky Hollow. Yet for all the pain of the life there is a tender passion in his narrative which makes it sing with the truth of poetry."
-- James Aranson, National Guardian

"Adds a burning page to the story of the immigrant workers who built the heavy industry of America."
-- Michael Gold, The Worker