Category: Books etc

The SSLH publishes the book series Studies in Labour History in association with Liverpool University Press. We also publish book reviews in our journal, the Labour History Review.

The articles below draw attention to new books, reports, pamphlets, and online publications and projects of interest to labour historians.

Books etc

Libraries gave us power: British trade unionism and education

A new book exploring the history of the British trade union movement through the lens of education, titled Libraries Gave Us Power: A History of Trade Unions and the Fight for Education, is due for publication early next year. Gavin McCann’s Libraries Gave Us Power – A History of Trade Unions and the Fight for Education tells the history of the British trade union movement … Continue reading Libraries gave us power: British trade unionism and education

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Books etc, Events, Labour history news

Book Launch: Shout for Freedom – the sound of Chartism

Members and supporters of the Society for the Study of Labour History are invited to the launch of Shout for Freedom: A Sonic History of Chartism and the Origins of British Democracy, a new book by Dr David Kennerley. From the clank of machinery to the beauty of birdsong, the tramp of marching feet to the exhilaration of a dance, the cheering of crowds to … Continue reading Book Launch: Shout for Freedom – the sound of Chartism

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Books etc, Commentary

Book review: Sheffield and the heavy spring trade

Quentin Outram reviews John Austin’s The Sheffield Heavy Spring Trade: 1829-2025. Sheffield, 2026, pp. 192, p/b. ISBN 978 10369 32701. Heavy springs are the springs you used to find and still find on railway trucks, carriages, and locomotives, lorries, busses, and cars. They are not the kind of springs you find in watch and clock mechanisms, jewellery, folding knives, upholstery and mattresses. There are two main types … Continue reading Book review: Sheffield and the heavy spring trade

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Books etc, Events

Book launch: Mary Quaile, Manchester trade union organiser

A new biography of Manchester Irishwoman and trade union organiser, Mary Quaile, will be launched on Saturday 8th August in Manchester. Bernadette Hyland and Michael Herbert’s new book: ‘To her the trade union movement was her life’ – Mary Quaile: Manchester Irishwoman and trade union organiser of women workers traces the story of Mary’s life and work. The book begins with her arrival in England … Continue reading Book launch: Mary Quaile, Manchester trade union organiser

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Books etc, Labour history news

Loose Cannons: a graphic tale of forgotten humanists

A new graphic novel running through the lives and ideas of humanists, both well known and unjustly forgotten, has just been announced. Paul Fitzgerald (Polyp), a Manchester-based illustrator and cartoonist, and Madeleine Goodall, a researcher and writer on humanist history, proposed book sets out to recover ‘unjustly forgotten freethinking humanists’ and bring them back into popular history. In recent years, Polyp has produced a range … Continue reading Loose Cannons: a graphic tale of forgotten humanists

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Books etc, Labour History Review

Book reviews in Labour History Review volume 91 (2026) issue 1

The books listed below are reviewed in Labour History Review (2026), 91, (1). Read the reviews. Abhishek Yadav reviews Titas Chakraborty, Empire of Labor: How the East India Company Colonized Hired Work, Oakland: University of California Press, 2025, pp. xiv + 322, h/b, £53.65, ISBN 978 05203 99631 Quentin Outram reviews Jessica Field, Eviction: A Social History of Rent, London: Verso, 2025, pp. vi + 280, h/b, £20, ISBN 978 … Continue reading Book reviews in Labour History Review volume 91 (2026) issue 1

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Books etc, Commentary

Revisiting A.L. Morton

A.L. Morton and the Radical Tradition by James Crossley, Palgrave Macmillan, 2025. 432pp. In his heyday, the Marxist historian, literary critic and journalist A.L. Morton (1903-1987) was admired by and influenced, now more famous contemporaries such as Eric Hobsbawm and Christopher Hill. While his most popular work, A People’s History of England (1938), still remains in print across several languages, apart from a small coterie … Continue reading Revisiting A.L. Morton

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Books etc

Book: A History of the Scottish Labour Party

A History of the Scottish Labour Party by Dr David Torrance, Edinburgh University Press, 2024. 320pp. The Scottish Labour Party – or rather the Labour Party in Scotland – was the dominant political party in Scotland from the 1950s until the early twenty-first century. It won the largest share of the vote at every UK general election between 1964 and 2010. While its electoral fortunes … Continue reading Book: A History of the Scottish Labour Party

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Books etc, Labour History Review

Book reviews in Labour History Review volume 90 (2025), Issue 3

The books listed below are reviewed in Labour History Review (2025), 90, (3). Read the reviews. Matthew Stibbe reviews Michael Braddick, Christopher Hill: The Life of a Radical Historian, London and New York: Verso, 2025, pp. x + 308, h/b, £35, ISBN 978 18397 60778 Bill Longshaw reviews Nick Mansfield and Martin Wright, Made by Labour, A Material and Visual History of British Labour c.1780–1924, Cardiff: University of Wales Press, … Continue reading Book reviews in Labour History Review volume 90 (2025), Issue 3

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Books etc

Len Johnson, Manchester’s uncrowned boxing champion and communist

‘I am here  to meet all comers’: the story of Len Johnson, Manchester’s Uncrowned Boxing Champion and Communist, by Michael Herbert. ‘Anything that I have and anything that I am, I owe unconditionally to the booth. The booth with its work, its careful living and, above all, its frame of mind… I am here to meet all comers and all comers I must meet,’ so … Continue reading Len Johnson, Manchester’s uncrowned boxing champion and communist

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