A brilliant story of the social history of coal

I enjoyed Mr Paxmans noration,interweaving social history ,unions activity and politics .
Told in a entertaining manner historically as accurate as needs be for a serious piece of work .

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Throughly enjoyable overview of the coal industry

The coal industry loomed large in my youth, from three day weeks in the 70s to the miners strike of the 80s. I was surprised how ignorant I was of its history, I’d never been a huge fan of Paxman’s sneering and aggressive interviewing style but this history has given me an insight into his outlook, and it’s rather attractive. The book is remarkably sympathetic to the miners and their families, so many of whom suffered terribly during the industry’s emergence. I also hadn’t realised how many great aristocratic fortunes were built on the back of coal. It’s a terrific listen.

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1 person found this helpful

Terrific, easy to follow history of coal mining

Very well written, this is an easy to follow history of coal mining in the UK. Paxman is expansive in his telling of the effects of coal, and forthright (as you would expect) in calling out some of the calamities, betrayals and the sheer challenge of being a miner. Some of his descriptions of how it was down the pit are chilling.

However, Paxman is not a great reader, he is a great broadcaster and interviewer, but as a reader it sounds like he is announcing. I think an trained actor would have been a better choice.

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Poorly Edited

Great story and narration BUT editing and splicing of the audio tape is poor, so many words cut off at the end of sentences.

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7 people found this helpful

Outstanding social, political & economic history

A powerful and critically analysis of the role of coal in shaping our politics, economy, environment and society for many hundreds of years. Its a story of rampant greed, exploitation and abuse on a grand scale. It will change the way you view many splendid palaces, great art collections and figures in history when you realise how much suffering, death and cruelty towards ordinary people went into funding the super-rich and their extravagant lifestyles. The duplicitous dealings of politicians, the police, the 'great and good', the media and all their cronies, even up until recent times, don't come out of this too well, either. Why was I never taught this in history at school?

The only reason I have dropped a point in the ratings was an issue to do with the technical recording of this otherwise splendid audio book. I found, particularly in the first third of the book, that the very end of many sentences had been 'clipped off' so that you only got the first half of the word. l found this irritating and distracting as I then found myself focusing on these chopped off endings rather than the text. Shame. Maybe it's just me and my ears or headphones? This detracted from my listening pleasure but I still found this book to be an outstanding history.

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Black Gold

How politics and greed kill of an industry and a community and the effect on communities

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A srong important story told with human details

The content is full and profound so that dramatic narration wan not needed or attempted. Well done!

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Facinating

A well researched piece of history well Told ! A credit to Jeremy Clarkson's well paced professional delvery>

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1 person found this helpful

An important history

This is an important book charting the history of coal mining in Britain and the social, political and economic issues it shaped in making Britain the country we see today. Generally well researched and written though at times rather journalistic in style and sometimes verbose.
I was very unsure how I'd get on with the book after listening to the first chapter. Mr Paxman's inquisitorial, haranguing delivery style is not in my opinion suited to narration performance of the type I've come to appreciate in other historical books I've listened to. Also I had to keep checking if the recording was skipping words as Mr Paxman tends to drop his voice suddenly and miss last syllables completely. However I persevered and am glad I did - I got used to his delivery and the broad sweep of the book, its sensitive but not over emotional handling of the more painful aspects of coal history (Aberfan Disaster for example), and the political and economic perspectives he brought to coal's recent history and demise, made the hours spent very worthwhile.

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For some, death in the dark for others.

Harrowing account of the brutal existance that spawned the industrial revolution without sparing the uncomfortable truth and revelations for the empathetic.

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