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Forty years after the UK mineworkers’ strike began, two new books of oral history have been published based on lengthy interviews with ex-mineworkers, miners’ wives, children, and supporters drawn from across the country. Both books are filled with extensive and often vivid quotation reflecting upon the events of the strike and a range of often deeply personal experiences. They are written in contrasting styles, which reflect different methodological approaches and motivations. Robert Gildea is concerned to develop a ‘national story’ from the interviews, one that (with some slight variation) has commonality across the regions and nations of Great Britain. In contrast, Florence Sutcliffe-Braithwaite and Natalie Thomlinson set themselves the task of deconstructing an existing national story, one that describes the involvement of women in the strike in heroic terms, emphasizing some activities and ignoring others. This review critically examines and contrasts these two approaches and places them in the context of the strike as it developed and changed. Drawing upon other materials as well as the author’s own memories and experiences of the strike, it attempts to convey something of the complexity of an event that has had such lasting significance.
