miners' lung (book) miners' lung (book) miners’ lung: a history of dust disease in british coal mining by arthur mcivor and ronald johnston is a 2007 book (isbn 978-0-7546-3673-1) which is part of the studies in labour history series. the book argues that british coal mining is the "classic dangerous trade", and even those that escape the immediate dangers of the pit (mine collapses, explosions, suffocation) may be subject to years of pain, laboured breathing and eventual death. mcivor and johnston relate the story of how the dust created by the picks, hammers, and pneumatic tools "crept deep into the lungs of the otherwise powerfully built, healthy workers, eventually incapacitating them, ruining their bodies and killing them".