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. 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 Thatcher’s 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 Labour’s 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 Thatcher’s war on the miners wasn’t good for green politics. ‘Excellent’ NEW STATESMAN ‘Brilliant’ TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT ‘Enlightening’ GUARDIAN

Originally published in 1951, this book is a straightforward account of the British nationalized coal industry in the first half of the twentieth century. An introductory chapter gives the history of the industry during the inter-war years and subsequent chapters discuss the complex organization by which coal is marketed at home and overseas. The types and grades of coal and the price structure of the industry are considered. There is a section on finance which explains the capital structure of the industry and statistical charts focus on significant trends in output, man-power, absenteeism, accidents and similar vital features of the coal industry.

Originally published in 1966, this is Volume II which is a straightforward account of the British nationalized coal industry in the first half of the twentieth century. This volume contains parts 4 on Coal and Capitalism to Part five on Coal and Public Policy.

This volume charts the ten-fold expansion of the industry between 1700 and 1830 and is based throughout on an extensive scrutiny of colliery records.