\'Terreehorst\'s instinct for well-chosen details keeps the story engaging, and she strikes an admirable balance between the texture of the characters\' immediate surroundings and the broader arcs of social and political change. While her knowledge of design shines in descriptions of fin-de-siècle mantelpieces and extravagant carved beds, her engrossing history of the development of industrial mining in Silesia displays the book\'s depth of research.\'