Coal Country: The Meaning and Memory of Deindustrialization in Postwar Scotland

This is the first book-length account of deindustrialization in the Scottish coalfields. The flooding and subsequent closure of Scotland's last deep coal mine in 2002 brought a centuries long saga to an end. Colliery closures and job losses were not just experienced in economic terms: they had profound implications for what it meant to be a worker, a Scot and a resident of an industrial settlement. Coal Country draws on archival research using records from UK government, the nationalized co...