Backbone of the NationA powerful new history of the Great Strike in the miners' own voices, based on more than 140 interviews with former miners and their families Forty years ago, Arthur Scargill led the National Union of Mineworkers on one of the largest strikes in British history. A deep sense of pride existed within Britain's mining communities who thought of themselves as the backbone of the nation's economy. But they were vilified by Margaret Thatcher's government