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, 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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Books etc

All Chartists great and small: three new books

Three new books offer insights into the lives of Chartist activists. Feargus O’Connor: Repealer, Chartist, and icon of Plebian Melodrama, by Huw Griffiths (paperback, 330pp) is a meticulously researched and detailed new biography of the Chartist leader which seeks to appraise the life of ‘the most famous Irishman of his generation to remain all but forgotten and unheralded in his own country’, to deconstruct ‘the … Continue reading All Chartists great and small: three new books

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Books etc, Labour history news

Half price history books for Christmas 2025

Liverpool University Press, the Society’s publishing partners in the Studies in Labour History book series, are offering up to 50% off print and ebooks in their Winter Sale. Use discount code 27WINTER at checkout on their website before Thursday 18 December 2025. Click here. Find out more about the Studies in Labour History book series. Continue reading Half price history books for Christmas 2025

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Books etc, SSLH news

Book launch: Clements Kadalie and the militant migrant workers of South Africa

In the 1920s, the Industrial and Commercial Workers’ Union of Africa (ICU) emerged as a significant force in Southern Africa, organising as many as a quarter of a million workers throughout throughout South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho and Zimbabwe. Its general secretary, Clements Kadalie, was like many of those in the ICU leadership, himself a migrant, from Malawi. A famed orator, journalist and trade union organiser, … Continue reading Book launch: Clements Kadalie and the militant migrant workers of South Africa

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Books etc

Militant Migrants: Clements Kadalie, the ICU and the Mass Movement of Black Workers in Southern Africa

Author Henry Dee introduces his book, Militant Migrants: Clements Kadalie, the ICU and the Mass Movement of Black Workers in Southern Africa, 1896-1951, volume 21 in the Studies in Labour History book series published by the Society for the Study of Labour History with Liverpool University Press. In the 1920s and 1930s, innumerable workers, as well as leading figures such as W.E.B. Du Bois, Tom … Continue reading Militant Migrants: Clements Kadalie, the ICU and the Mass Movement of Black Workers in Southern Africa

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Books etc

Book launch: Militant Migrants

Join us at the Marx Memorial Library for the launch of Militant Migrants: Clements Kadalie, the ICU and the Mass Movement of Black Workers in Southern Africa, 1896-1951, by Henry Dee. The event takes place at 4pm on Saturday 29 November 2025. The latest book in the Studies in Labour History series published by the Society for the Study of Labour History with Liverpool University … Continue reading Book launch: Militant Migrants

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