On August 5, 2010, at the San Josmine in northern Chile, 33 men were  entombed 2,300 feet below the earth when a slab of rock the size of a  skyscraper sheared off the mountain and sealed shut their only access to  the surface.  The miners were discovered alive 17 days later, and for  the next seven weeks after that discovery, as rescuers sought to bring  them to the surface, the eyes of the world shifted to this previously  obscure corner of South America.  More than 2,000 journalists and  reporters flooded in to cover the drama.  But despite worldwide  interest, the media rarely delved to either the front lines of the  rescue or below the surface of the tragedy.  Locked behind police lines,  most reporters were reduced to months of interviewing family members  and politicians. However, award-winning journalist Jonathan Franklin was  the exception.   The print journalist with the most extensive  access and contacts, Franklin reported, recorded, and filmed from the  front row of the operation as it unfolded and, as a result, was afforded  unprecedented and unique access to the miners and the rescuers.  Now,  for the first time ever, he tells their full story in 33 Men: Inside  the Miraculous Survival and Dramatic Rescue of the Chilean Miners Franklin's status as a "local"--he has lived in Chile for 16 years,  speaks fluent Spanish, and has six daughters with his Chilean wife--and  his 25 years' experience as an investigative reporter provided him  access other journalists could only dream of.  For almost six weeks he  lived on the hillside that served as the rescue operation's nerve  center.  He sat in on planning meetings, pored over government  documents, and recorded sessions between the miners and the  psychologists charged with looking after their mental health.  He  conducted interviews with miners' families, rescue workers, engineers,  drill operators, and many others, including President Pira of Chile.   Even before the miners were rescued, while they were still underground,  Franklin interviewed them via a makeshift phone that connected them to  the surface. "I sat in this container where you could pick up a phone,  dial eleven, and the phone would ring down below," says Franklin, who  developed such a bond of trust with the miners that they described in  great detail the dramatic first 17 days of their confinement. Cut off  from the outside world and unsure if they would ever be found, let alone  rescued, they were forced to create their own unique society while  struggling to come to grips with the likelihood of a slow, lingering  death.   Once the miners were rescued, Franklin interviewed  virtually all of them--at their homes, at his house, on horseback, and  at the beach.  "All of this allowed me to develop a very special  relationship with the miners," says Franklin. "They showed me the videos  they made while they were trapped, which have never been shared with  anyone.  Two of them lent me the private diaries they kept while  underground.  And rather than having to rely on hearsay or rumor, if I  had a question, I could go directly to them and ask.  Above all, they  allowed me to get inside their heads as they described the experience  and detailed what happened day by day."   The result is 33  Men, the most authoritative book on the Chilean mine  disaster.  This timely book is an uplifting story of survival,  endurance, and unprecedented human conquest.  Written with the author's  renowned eye for detail, it captures the remarkable story of the miners  who grasped the essence of the human spirit in order to survive their  entrapment, and the men and women who literally moved a mountain to set  them free.