Reviews
'The most comprehensive, balanced and persuasive analysis of the Winter of Discontent so far available.'<br /><i></i>Pat Thane<i></i>
'An important book of considerable scholarship and historical technique, offering valuable alternative perspectives and significant insights into the industrial unrest of the British ‘winter of discontent’.' <br />John Shepherd, University of Huddersfield
'Lopez’s study focuses – as the title suggests – on the creation of the myths that surrounded the Winter of Discontent, and their subsequent repackaging and reiteration in the 1980s and beyond. Utilising a number of previously unseen sources, especially some stimulating and thought-provoking interviews with a number of those who participated on various sides of the 1978/9 industrial disputes, the study provides an important addition to the ever-growing historiography of late-twentieth-century British political history.'
<br />Andrew Edwards, <i>Labour History Review</i>
'The book makes possible a significantly more nuanced understanding, both of the ‘lived experience’ of those who participated in industrial action and of the dire economic conditions from which the strikes emerged. The result is a valuable contribution to the scholarly literature on the 1970s.'<br />Robert Saunders, <i>Twentieth Century British History</i>
'Martin López looks beyond the common, monolithic understanding of the period to examine the complex, underlying forces that affected the strikes and their reception by Labour and Conservative politicians, the media and the British public. Her book traces the ways in which understandings and experiences of gender were embedded within workers’ lives and the increasing gendering of trade union spaces, which is often overlooked in retellings of the event. ... this is a valuable and important book for people interested in British labour, economic and political history, as well as gender and transnational feminist studies. Martin López deepens and enriches previous scholarly understandings of the period.' <br />Laura Y. Merrell,<i> Feminist Review</i>
- Dedication
- Acknowledgements
- Foreword by Sheila Rowbotham
- Introduction
- 1. The Ghosts of the Past: Myth and the Winter of Discontent
- 2. Winter of Discontent:Causes and Context
- 3. The Floodgates Open: The Strike at Ford
- 4. ‘The Second Stalingrad:’ The Road Haulage Strikes
- 5. ‘Freezers of Corpses and Sea Burials:’ The Liverpool Gravediggers’ Strike
- 6. Unseemly Behaviour: Women and Local Authority Strikes
- 7. ‘Celia’s Gate’ and Strikes in the National Health Service
- 8. Crosscurrents of Memory: Myth, Memory, and Counter-Memory
- 9. Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index