Susan Kushner Resnick has been a journalist for 22 years, writing for publications ranging from obscure alternative weeklies to the very mainstream The Providence Journal. She has freelanced for magazines, with her most impressive clip coming from The New York Times magazine. Her first book, Sleepless Days: One Woman's Journey Through Postpartum Depression (St. Martin's Press, 2001) was the first memoir of PPD by an American author. She lives in Massachusetts with her husband and two adolescent children, but wishes she could spend more time in Montana.

Q & A with the author.

Q: What's a nice New England girl doing writing about Montana?
A: I found this story while on vacation in Montana with my family. We were in a saloon in Bearcreek that's known for its pig-racing. The place is decorated with framed newspaper articles from the week of the disaster. The one over our table was a tear-jerker about the wives and daughters waiting for the men to come out. I couldn't believe nobody had ever written a book about this event before. I started interviewing people in the saloon that night.

Q: Have the locals been cooperative?
A: Almost all of them have, yes. It's as if they've been waiting 60-odd years for someone to ask what happened. I've gotten letters and photos and paystubs from the children of the miners and their wives.

Q: Any hostility?
A: Tony Boyle's daughter hung up on me, which is ironic, because although he's had plenty of negative press (Boyle was convicted of arranging a triple murder when he was president of the United Mine Workers of America), he's one of the good guys in this story. He really wanted to protect the miners. I was hoping to get more information on what he was like before he went bad.

Q: What do you hope people get out of the book?
A: That business owners need to listen to their consciences and workers need to fight for their safety. Also, that people can endure their worst nightmares.

Q: What's your favorite thing about Montana?
A: The untouched-ness of it. I hope people stop building trophy ranches there. The whole state should be preserved as a historical site.