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John Berger and the miners
LYNNE WALSH is stirred by John Berger’s observation that ‘by attacking the demonstration, authority ensures that the symbolic event becomes an historical one’
People listen to speeches during the Miner's strike 40th anniversary rally at Dodworth Miners Welfare in Barnsley, March 2, 2024

John Berger, The Underground Sea: Miners and the Miners’ Strike
Edited by Tom Overton and Matthew Harle
Canongate, £16.99

 

ANY book which owes its existence to the talent and compassion of John Berger should revere and uphold his extraordinary legacy. This one falls short.

Scheduled to mark the 40th anniversary of the miners’ strike, this slight volume may seek to dig deep, yet it barely scratches the surface.

John Herman, Miners, 1951. This work is a study for a much larger mural, nearly 8 meters long, commissioned for the Festival of Britain, 1951 - Credit: Angus Reid
The 95th Anniversary Appeal
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