This is an impeccably researched and conceptually ambitious study.
- Alan Campbell, University of Liverpool, Historical Studies in Industrial Relations
Phillips presents an informative, interesting, and thought-provoking account of the Scottish coal miners who articulated their pursuit of economic security based on class struggle and the assertion of greater political autonomy for Scotland.
- Joe Redmayne, Newcastle University, Labour History Review
The book is a fitting tribute to the thousands of Scottish miners who toiled underground across the twentieth century and played an essential role in buildinga new society and defending it in the 1980s and 1990s. As an academic text it is a major piece of scholarship that will stand the test of time. However, just as importantly, its empathetic reconstruction of working class culture and politics will ensure that it will be just as warmly received by the general reader with an interest in the history of Scotland.
- Keith Gildart, University of Wolverhampton, Scottish Labour History
The book is a fitting tribute to the thousands of Scottish miners who toiled underground across the twentieth century and played an essential role in buildinga new society and defending it in the 1980s and 1990s. As an academic text it is a major piece of scholarship that will stand the test of time. However, just as importantly, its empathetic reconstruction of working class culture and politics will ensure that it will be just as warmly received by the general reader with an interest in the history of Scotland.
- Keith Gildart, University of Wolverhampton, Scottish Labour History
Phillips has written a wonderfully rich and deeply rewarding book, ingeniously crafted, immaculately researched, and cogently argued. It sets new standards in the historiography on British miners in the twentieth century.
- Jörg Arnold, University of Nottingham, The Economic History Review