A look at the underbelly of an industry whose power continues to soar even as its expansion feeds catastrophic climate change, this work dissects the Australian coal industry’s influence to publicly, and behind closed doors, get its way. The book exposes the myth of clean coal and the taxpayer-funded public relations machine behind it while laying bare the desolation in regional Australia as prime farming land, the fabric of communities, and much else is stripmined along with the coal. Most contentiously of all, Big Coal explores how Australia can break its dirtiest habit and move to a far more sustainable, yet still prosperous, future.

Guy Pearse is the author of Greenwash: Big Brands and Carbon Scams and High & Dry: John Howard, Climate Change and the Selling of Australia's Future. David McKnight is a senior research fellow at the University of New South Wales. He is the author of a number of books on the media, politics, and history, including Beyond Right and Left: New Politics and the Culture War and Rupert Murdoch: An Investigation of Political Power. Bob Burton has worked as an environmental campaigner, an author, and a freelance journalist for more than 30 years. He is the author of Inside Spin: The Dark Underbelly of the PR Industry and the coauthor of Secrets and Lies: The Anatomy of an Anti-environment PR Campaign.