Nine Days in May

In recalling the general strike, [Schneer does] something very valuable - [he rescues] the British industrial working class from what EP Thompson described as ""the enormous condescension of posterity"", a cultural condescension that relegates working people to under-footmen and scullery maids. * David Aaronovitch, Financial Times * sophisticated and persuasive...Schneer provides a compelling picture of the miners' working conditions a century ago * Colin Kidd, The Observer * vivid and readable ... [Nine Days in May goes] beyond the picturesque elements of the strike to examine its wider significance and the forces at play. Schneer's angle of vision is wide and he covers all aspects of the strike. * Richard Vinen, Literary Review * readable and convincing...does the good historian's work in weighing up not just wage rates, but also the motives and actions of all the parties involved, drawing on elite sources and trade union sources while adding many more of his own. * Peter Mandler, History Today * evocative, scholarly, and stylishly written... a comprehensive overview * David Vaiani, The Critic * an engrossing book that frames a moment in time. This was the age that made Orwell; an age of social decay and political ferment when the cracks of imperial decline were beginning to show. * Unseen Histories * a brilliant new book * Paul Nowak, Trade Unions Congress (TUC) * Brilliant… the best historyâ¯I have read of an epic General Strike that divided the nation and galvanised millions. * Jon Cruddas, Labour MP for Dagenham and Rainham, 2002-2024 * A marvellous book, combining the fascination of fly on the wall reporting with rigorous analysis and a deep understanding of the personalities and their motives.⯠Every page seems to contain a fresh revelation or a new insight.â¯It should quickly become the standard work on this defining moment in Britain's industrial and political history. * John Edmunds, former General Secretary of the GMB (General & Municipal & Boilermakers Union) * A clear, well-researched, and highly readable account of one of the most dramatic events in modern British history. For some time we have needed a fresh account of the General Strike: a time when many people believed the country to be on the brink of revolution. Here is that account - explaining a crucial moment in our past and putting our present troubles into perspective'. * William Hague, Chancellor of the University of Oxford and former leader of the Conservative Party * Jonathan Schneer brilliantly digs below the surface of the one of the most momentous, and controversial, periods in British trade union history. * Paul Nowak, General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress * Jonathan Schneer's new study of the 1926 General Strike is an indispensable addition to the existing literature. He has drawn upon much fascinating⯠evidence, particularly archival, not previously seen, which has greatly widened our understanding of the behaviour of the government and the trade unions; and why the government won and the unions lost. * Ross McKibbin, University of Oxford * The General Strike was a titanic struggle between the world's oldest and best-organized labour movement and its most resolutely self-confident governing class. Jonathan Schneer tells its story as a tale of tragedy and triumph shot through with telling detail and striking surprises. It is a definitive account for our times. * Marc Mulholland, University of Oxford and author of The Murderer of Warren Street: The True Story of a Nineteenth Century Revolutionary * a lively, readable account of the 1926 general strike, which, though it wears its scholarship lightly, is based on immersion in archival sources. * Brian Hanley, Irish Times * readable and convincing ... does the good historian's work in weighing up - not just wage rates, but also the motives and actions of all the parties involved, drawing on elite sources and trade union sources while adding many more of his own. * Peter Mandler, History Today *