A Scottish historian will launch his new history of the British working class at an event hosted by an independent Edinburgh bookseller.
An Injury to All, described as “the definitive history of British post war working-class life”, will be released to the public at an event run by Argonaut Books.
Written by economic and social historian Ewan Gibbs, the book chronicles how working-class communities have been pushed to the side and left behind in recent decades.
The launch will be held at Leith Arches on Leith Walk on Tuesday, October 27 at 7 pm.
Dr Gibbs’ first book, Coal Country: The Meaning and Memory of Deindustrialization in Postwar Scotland, was shortlisted for the Scottish History Book of the Year in 2021.
The book will chronicle how British working class communities have been left behind. (Image: Verso Books)
The social historian told The Herald: “An Injury to All is a living human history of how the working class has been pushed from the centre to the margins of politics and society…
“It centres on the home, the community and especially the workplace along with party politics.”
Speaking about the decision to launch his book in Edinburgh, the University of Glasgow lecturer said:
“Edinburgh, and especially Leith, is a fitting place for my book launch given the ongoing experience of a city where wealth and plenty are accumulated through escalating rents, precarious work and cuts to public services.
“My book is both a history of what was lost, and what was taken, but also a story of opposition and potential for a better future through new expressions of working-class power through trade unions and tenants’ organising.”
A specialist in energy politics, Dr Gibbs recently spoke to The Herald's writer-at-large Neil Mackay.
He spoke about the "unjust transition" away from coal under the premiership of Margaret Thatcher, and how there are fears among oil and gas workers that history could repeat itself.
"We need to remember who is closing down the oil and gas industry. It’s not red bureaucrats or green activists, it’s oil and gas companies," he said. "Oddly, they’re very absent from the discussion."
Many energy workers fear becoming "the coal miners of the 2020s," he remarked.
Yet, even in Scotland's growing renewables sector, many jobs are "low paid and insecure".
"They’re not building wind farms," Dr Gibbs explained. "They’re self-employed doing installations like heat pumps or charging stations for electric cars. These aren’t particularly well-rewarded jobs”.
“The [just transition] isn't just about job numbers, we should be talking about job quality and longevity as well."
Read more:
- The old working class knew something modern Scotland has forgotten
- Right-wing politics and the struggle for working-class power in Scotland
- 'First step for change’: Working-class museum reopens after controversial closure
Tickets to attend the book launch cost £2, while tickets and a signed copy of An Injury to All cost £25.
“An Injury to All traces the titanic class struggles that splintered the post-war British working class,” said reviewer Callum Cant, co-author ofThe Future in Our Past.
“Gibbs opens up the last eighty years as a lived story of agency and conflict.”
“Essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the historical forces that have produced the crisis of contemporary Britain,” added Kojo Koram, author of The Next Fix.