Published 'The Book of the Dead', exposing the Hawks Nest Tunnel disaster.
Released in 1938, The Book of the Dead featured a sequence of documentary poems by Muriel Rukeyser, tunneling into the silicosis tragedy related to the Hawks Nest Tunnel in West Virginia. By weaving court testimony into poetic form, Rukeyser shattered traditional narrative structures, confronting industrial neglect towards worker safety. This significant work signaled to the literary world the potential of poetry to address urgent social and ethical issues, and aided in raising awareness about such industrial tragedies.