Until now most studies of the Welsh coal boom of the late 1800s and early 1900s have concentrated on the workers and the unions. Instead, in "The Entrepreneurial Society of the Rhondda Valleys, 1840-1920, " Richard Griffiths focuses his attention on the middle class and reveals how several of these individuals were--by hard work, perseverance, and often creative business practices--able to build up considerable wealth and power.