9781839761560_

No one personified the age of industry more than the miners. The Shadow of the Mine tells the story of King Coal in its heyday and what happened to mining communities after the last pits closed. Coal was central to the British economy, powering its factories and railways. It carried political weight, too. In the eighties the miners risked everything in a year-long strike against Thatchers shutdowns. Defeat foretold the death of their industry. Tens of thousands were cast onto the labour market with a minimum amount of advice and support. Yet British politics all of a sudden revolves around the coalfield constituencies that lent their votes to Boris Johnsons Conservatives in 2019. Even in the Welsh Valleys, where the red wall still stands, support for the Labour Party has halved in a generation. Huw Beynon and Ray Hudson draw on decades of research to chronicle these momentous changes through the words of the people who lived through them.

(*_*)9781839761560_

The Shadow of the Mine tells the story of King Coal in its heyday, the heroics and betrayals of the Miners Strike, and what happened to mining communities after the last pits closed.

No one personified the age of industry more than the miners. Coal was central to the British economy, powering its factories and railways. It carried political weight, too. In the eighties the miners risked everything in a year-long strike against Thatchers shutdowns. Their defeat doomed a way of life. The lingering sense of abandonment in former mining communities would be difficult to overstate. Yet recent electoral politics has revolved around the coalfield constituencies in Labours Red Wall. Huw Beynon and Ray Hudson draw on decades of research to chronicle these momentous changes through the words of the people who lived through them.

This edition includes a new postscript on why Thatchers war on the miners wasnt good for green politics.

Excellent
NEW STATESMAN

Brilliant
TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT

Enlightening
GUARDIAN

...

The Shadow of the Mine

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