S. Ruju, I mondi minerari della Sardegna. Con dieci testimonianze orali, Cagliari, Cuec, 2008, pages 320, € 15,00 Review by Andrea Strambio de Castillia

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Sandro Ruju carries out researches on the economic history of his island, Sardinia.
The geographic universe of reference is the one of the West coast of the island, from Capo dell'Argentiera to North until the coal mines of Sulcis (South), passing through the metal bearing hills of the regions of Guspini and Iglesias.
Each of the studied productive reality has its own originality, determined by the particular methods of production, by the various ownership structures and by the different social and working realities.
From the point of view of the sources, Sandro Ruju’s study is based on the analysis of an enormous quantity of records which are enriched by many interviews Ruju realized between 1988 and 1997 to clarify and investigate the issues emerged during the research. Ten of these interviews are published in the third part of the volume: the reading of the testimonies gives life to the data of the historical analysis and offers a direct vision of the human context. The publication is, at the same time, exhaustive and light, suitable, also because of his pocket format, to be taken around by a curious traveler visiting the mines of the Western Sardinia.