Tuesday 26th September at the Lit & Phil at 6.00pm

Booking: Lit & Phil Members only until 4th September.

In association with Yale University Press

Presented by Robert Gildea

A powerful new history of the Great Strike, based on more than 140 interviews with former miners and their families.

Forty years ago, Arthur Scargill led the National Union of Mineworkers on one of the largest strikes in British history. A deep sense of pride existed within Britain’s mining communities who thought of themselves as the backbone of the nation’s economy. But they were vilified by Margaret Thatcher’s government and eventually broken: deprived of their jobs, their livelihoods, and in some cases, their lives.

In this ground-breaking new history, Robert Gildea interviews those miners and their families who fought to defend themselves. Exploring mining communities from South Wales to the Midlands, Yorkshire, County Durham, and Fife, Gildea uncovers stories of survival, solidarity and redemption. He shows how the miners and their families organized to protect themselves, and how a network of activists mobilized to support them.

Amid the recent wave of industrial action in the United Kingdom, Backbone of the Nation highlights anew the importance of labour organization―and intimately records the triumphs, losses, and resilience of these mining communities.

ROBERT GILDEA is Professor Emeritus of Modern History at the University of Oxford. He is the author of Fighters in the Shadows, Empires of the Mind, and the Wolfson Prize-winning Marianne in Chains.

A LIVE Lit & Phil Event | £3

Please book with the Library Desk team, or over the phone on 0191 232 0192 and your Membership Card Number and they will be happy to help.

The Society assisted Robert with his interviews in the Chester-le-Street and Consett areas and we have 15 tickets available on first come, first served basis which can be reserved through me. They will be held at the door on the night and can be paid for then.