Overview

'David Torrance chronicles this decisive moment in British history with colourful, fascinating detail' - The Times Author of the critically acclaimed The Wild Men, David Torrance explores another tumultuous and era-defining moment in British political history. On Tuesday 4 May 1926, two million workers downed tools in the only nationwide all-hands strike ever held in Britain. The General Strike had begun, and the country braced itself for what many believed was a moment akin to the Russian Revolution, which had shaken the world only a decade earlier. Industry was deprived of gas and electricity; the buses, trains and trams all stopped; newspapers ceased publication; and workers abandoned mines and iron, steel and chemical works around the country. The General Strike has entered our national mythology. Even though it lasted only nine days, it left a legacy of bitterness that has had a profound impact on politics. Now, a century on, Torrance tells this dramatic story from the perspective of everyone involved, drawing on extensive archival research to recreate those nine days through the accounts of those who lived and breathed it. The result is an absorbing and comprehensive analysis of this unique episode in British history.

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9781399423595

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Reviews

David Torrance writes with verve and brio about one of the most dramatic events in modern British social, economic and political history. His book brings the events of the general strike alive for a modern readership, a hundred years after it occurred. -- John Bew * Professor of History and Foreign Policy, War Studies, King's College London *

Author Information

Dr David Torrance is a constitutional specialist at the House of Commons Library and a widely published historian of Scottish and UK politics as well as an experienced biographer of political figures such as the SNP politicians Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon. He is the author of The Wild Men, published by Bloomsbury Continuum.

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