The strong community ties of mining villages are the central concern of this book, which deals with the social history and sociology of mining in County Durham in the twentieth century. Focusing on the country as a whole, this title, first published in 1978, asks what is most distinctive about the area in the past and how it is changing in the present. The personal documents presented in the first chapters of the book bring to life the local mining community with an evocative picture of village life at the turn of the century. These first-hand accounts are integrated with the results of social research carried out at Durham University over a number of years. Mining and Social Change will be of interest to students of history and sociology.