Description

From the picket lines of the Miners’ Strike to the Amazon warehouses of today, the British working class has been pushed from the center of political life to its margins, though not without a fight. But how did a force that once shaped nations become invisible?

Historian Ewan Gibbs reconstructs what was lost-and what was taken. Through vivid first-hand accounts, he traces the transformation of a class forged in mines and shipyards into one scattered across call centers and gig economy apps. This is the story of council estates sold off, unions broken, mill towns hollowed out, and a sense of solidarity ground down by decades of insecurity.

Yet, as inequality deepens and class roars back into political debate, Gibbs confronts the essential question: who now speaks for labour? Richly researched and deeply humane, An Injury to All is the definitive history of British post war working-class life.

Publisher Review

A valuable contribution covering often-neglected territory and – crucially – letting its subjects speak for themselves — Rhian E. Jones, author of Rebecca’s Country Compelling … essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the historical forces that have produced the crisis of contemporary Britain — Kojo Koram, author of The Next Fix An Injury to All traces the titanic class struggles that splintered the post-war British working class. Gibbs opens up the last eighty years as a lived story of agency and conflict — Callum Cant, co-author of The Future in Our Past