Black Gold: The History of How Coal Made Britain by Jeremy Paxman (Hardback)

Coal is the commodity that made Britain. It drove industry, religion, politics, empire and trade and powered the industrial revolution.

Written in the captivating style of his bestselling book The English, Jeremy Paxman tells the story of coal mining in England, Scotland and Wales from Roman times, through the birth of steam power to war, nationalisation, pea-souper smogs, industrial strife and the picket lines of the Miner’s Strike.

This impressive social history explores the life-stories of engineers and inventors, entrepreneurs and industrialists – but first and foremost the working miners – the men, women and often children who toiled in appalling conditions down in the mines.