This year marks the thirtieth anniversary of the British miners' strike of 1984–85. The aftermath of the strike witnessed the almost complete closure of the deep-mined coal industry, the consolidation of the hegemony of Thatcherism, and the marginalization of the economic power of the trade unions, and paved the way for the creation of New Labour. This timely book marks a significant addition to the literature on mining trade unionism and is a reminder of the collective identity and solidarity of the South Wales coalfield. The chronology charts the miners' response to the shifting priorities of both Labour and Conservative governments.

Methodologically, the book appears to be a fairly traditional account of a trade union institution and an anatomy of its governance, ideology, and place within the broader context of the working-class communities of the coalfields. Yet it is much more than this. The judicious use of primary sources, a substantial oral history dimension, and an empathy with the union, its members, and their social struggles presents the reader with both a riveting narrative and a sophisticated exploration of key periods and seminal events that shaped the history of the South Wales miners. The author's aim was to produce a history that would complement Francis and Smith's The Fed (1980), a seminal text on which subsequent studies of the coalfield have been built. The opening sections trace the politics of the South Wales Miners' Federation, which was formed in 1898, later becoming an influential area of the federated National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) during the years of coal nationalization between 1947 and 1994. In 1964 the South Wales Area, organized in 95 lodges consisting of 75,500 miners, maintained its tradition of socialist politics, communist activism, and working-class education. The collective strength of the organization and the depth of its roots in the wider working-class milieu of the South Wales valleys enabled leaders to draw on the loyalties of the membership through a series of crises culminating in the cataclysmic strike of 1984–85.

The rate of colliery closures in the 1960s and 1970s transformed the fragile industrial consensus that had existed in the coalfield in the postwar period. The South Wales miners led the campaign in calling for a halt to the dilution of the industry and its associated occupational and community cultures. The chapters covering this period reconstruct the working and social life of miners, the personalities of both lodge and area officials, and the drama of particular campaigns, disputes, and conflicts over strategies adopted by the National Coal Board in attempting to transform industrial relations in an increasingly volatile economic environment. The closure program of the Wilson government in the 1960s strained the relationship between the Labour Party and the NUM, particularly in the more left-wing coalfields such as South Wales.

The author highlights the importance of generational and political change in lodge and area leadership positions in diluting the culture of consensus that had existed within the industry. This reached its apogee in the surface strikes of 1969 and the national disputes of 1972 and 1974. The political factionalism that developed in the NUM is traced through the prism of the South Wales Area and its attempt to maintain both its political and cultural role in the national union and the wider labor movement. The South Wales miners voted consistently for left-wing candidates in elections for both NUM and Labour Party leaders. The author has a keen eye for uncovering detail and nuance in exposing the limitations of existing studies that have tended to concentrate on national developments and personalities. The structure and flow of the text signposts a sense of impending crisis, conflict, and tragedy as the chronology moves from the euphoria of the miners' victories in 1972 and 1974, the publication of the optimistic Plan for Coal, and the election of Margaret Thatcher in 1979 that proved to be disastrous for the future of the industry. Chapters 5 and 6 on the deteriorating relationship between the Conservative government and the strike of 1984–85 are particularly insightful, analytical, and very moving.

The fascinating account of the 1984–85 strike challenges and ultimately destroys the myth that this was a dispute that was directed at the national level by an unrepresentative cabal of militant leaders led by Arthur Scargill. In the four years leading up to the dispute, the South Wales miners were at the forefront of attempting to generate support for industrial action against colliery closures. Officials took every opportunity to expose the hypocrisy of NUM moderates in other coalfields in calling for a national ballot when they had ignored the result of such a process over the introduction of incentive schemes in the 1970s as a way of enhancing wages. Unsurprisingly, South Wales remained the most solid coalfield in support of the strike that saw death, injury, hunger, divorce, poverty, and physical and mental hardship stalking the coalfields. It was in this context that South Wales officials became critical of the national leadership of Scargill and eventually made moves that led to the end of the strike in 1985. The defeat left a legacy of despair in the South Wales valleys, and ten years after the dispute only one colliery remained in production.

The book is a significant addition to the historiography of the British coal industry and extends the chronology of existing works on the South Wales miners. Curtis has drawn on an impressive range of primary sources in constructing a compelling narrative of one of the most significant trade unions in British history. Yet it is also a history through which the voice of the miner is not lost in the minutiae of union resolutions, conference debates, and political factionalism. This is a story that contains sweat, struggle, empathy, conflict, and despair, and deserves to attract a wide readership.