The debate over Geoff Coyle's book has raised a number of interesting issues.
Peter asks a good question, why is a book with proven inaccuracies
reviewed well? Here are some thoughts.
I had a chance to listen to Geoff Coyle give a lecture last year when
the book first came out. Compared to many people I've heard talking
about the importance of mining history and heritage I found him to be
quite inspirational, even though I didn't agree with some of what he
was saying, and knew some of it not to be exactly wrong but perhaps
misinterpreted. I was also not so keen on the polemic of wanting
large-scale extractive industries to return to Britain again--although
there is an interesting debate to be had there.
It is great to have a study that takes a Britain-wide perspective as
so much industrial history is siloed into regional compartments. Here
you can't fail to be awed by the importance of the extractive
industries to the British Isles, the sheer variety of resources under
our feet and the profundity of the impact it has had on our culture
and society. The book makes this impact felt in the way that more
traditional works on mining history do not.
General readers who might be attracted by a subject they know nothing
about would naturally turn to this kind of book more than an IA
journal or similar or any 'serious' tome produced by your good selves,
which often suffer not from unengaging prose, but from poor
circulation in main stream markets.
It is a great 'story of British mining' that has caught people's
attention because it is accessible and alluring. There is something to
be said for that. See this review from the Guardian:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/jun/26/riches-beneath-feet-mining-coyle
A particularly telling quote from the review which might explain this
book's attraction:
" Its great value is Coyle's comprehensive swing through every sort of
mining and its history, and a dispassionate view of a subject which,
pace Deepwater Horizon, has generated endless bitterness, emotion and
danger."
Happy reading,
Tehmina
--
Dr Tehmina Goskar, MA AMA
[log in to unmask]
http://tehmina.goskar.com/
Research Officer: ESRC Global and Local Worlds of Welsh Copper
History & Classics
Prifysgol Abertawe / Swansea University
On 26 August 2011 10:55, Roger Gosling <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Hi all
>
> I have a copy of this book and can thoroughly recommend it. I found it quite
> interesting. I bought it mainly for the chapter on the history of salt
> mining in the UK which is well presented. The book also has 27 monochrome
> pictures in it which cover a very wide range of mining scenes.
>
> There are a few reviews on the www; however our very own Prof Roger Burt at
> http://www.historyextra.com/book-review/riches-beneath-our-feet-how-mining-shaped-britain
> doesn't think much of the book as his review is largely critical.
>
> However another review at
> http://www.historytoday.com/blog/books-blog/chris-wrigley/riches-beneath-our-feet
> is largely very positive.
>
> Btw I bought my copy from moorebooks
>
> Cheers
> Roger
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Sallie Bassham" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Thursday, August 25, 2011 8:18 PM
> Subject: [mining-history] Book Review
>
>
>> Thank you to Phil Newman for an excellent review of "Riches beneath our
>> feet" in AIA review.
>> Sallie
>
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