An Injury to All: The Unmaking of the British Working Class

Whatever happened to the working class? A compelling new social history of Britain since 1945

From the picket lines of the Miners' Strike to the Amazon warehouses of today, the British working class has been pushed from the center of political life to its margins, though not without a fight. But how did a force that once shaped nations become invisible?

Historian Euan Gibbs reconstructs what was lost—and what was taken. Through vivid first-hand accounts, he traces the transformation of a class forged in mines and shipyards into one scattered across call centers and gig economy apps. This is the story of council estates sold off, unions broken, mill towns hollowed out, and a sense of solidarity ground down by decades of insecurity. Yet, as inequality deepens and class roars back into political debate, Gibbs confronts the essential question: who now speaks for labour? Richly researched and deeply humane, An Injury to All is the definitive history of British post war working-class life.