{"product_id":"9780008128364_black-gold-the-history-of-how-coal-made-britain","title":"Black Gold: The History of How Coal Made Britain","description":"\u003ch2\u003eFrom the bestselling historian and acclaimed broadcaster\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e‘A rich social history … Paxman’s book could hardly be more colourful, and I enjoyed each page enormously’ DOMINIC SANDBROOK, \u003cem\u003eSUNDAY TIMES\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e‘Vividly told … Paxman’s fine narrative powers are at their best’ \u003cem\u003eTHE TIMES\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eCoal is the commodity that made Britain. Dirty and polluting though it is, this black rock has acted as a midwife to genius. It drove industry, religion, politics, empire and trade. It powered the industrial revolution, turned Britain into the first urban nation and is the industry that made almost all others possible.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn this brilliant social history, 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWritten in the captivating style of his bestselling book \u003cem\u003eThe English\u003c\/em\u003e, Paxman ranges widely across Britain to explore stories of engineers and inventors, entrepreneurs and industrialists – but whilst coal inevitably helped the rich become richer, the story told by \u003cem\u003eBlack Gold\u003c\/em\u003e is first and foremost a history of the working miners – the men, women and often children who toiled in appalling conditions down in the mines; the villages that were thrown up around the pit-head.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAlmost all traces of coal-mining have vanished from Britain but with this brilliant history, \u003cem\u003eBlack Gold\u003c\/em\u003e demonstrates just how much we owe to the black stuff.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Jeremy Paxman","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46897504649365,"sku":"9780008128364","price":22.99,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0484\/3175\/9509\/files\/9780008128364_8fdd15ea-9682-428a-a01e-6f1bb2d0892f.jpg?v=1776888599","url":"https:\/\/harpercollins.com.au\/products\/9780008128364_black-gold-the-history-of-how-coal-made-britain","provider":"HarperCollins AU","version":"1.0","type":"link"}