Soldiers as Workers

Reviews’Overall, Mansfield shows himself to be the master of summary and synthesis and Soldiers as Workers achieves its goal of defining a ‘labour history of soldiers’ (210). Many of the subsections on military tradesmen and class conflict could be extended into article-length investigations. This work therefore provides an invaluable introduction for labour historians interested in researching the military.’Joe Cozens, Labour History Review‘Mansfield has brought individuality and complexity to a topic that used to be treated fairly homogeneously. It adds to a wave of historiography that has refused to accept characterizations, initially perpetuated by commanders, of rankers as infantile drifters and wastrels in need of constant discipline….. Rather than seeing mechanical automatons in blind fear of the lash, Nick Mansfield recognizes the men beneath the uniform and their complex histories and motivations. This book paves the way for an integrated history of the British poor that stresses the connections between the manufacturing trades and soldiering. Historians have separated these groups far too often.’Jennine Hurl-Eamon, Canadian Journal of History‘Soldiers as Workers addresses a lacuna in labour history, and one hopes that Mansfield will pursue these questions more fully in future work’Lynn MacKay, Labour/ Le Te Travail‘Mansfield has written a very informative and engaging book from many perspectives and this will be a useful resource for labour and military historians hereon in.’Alan Southern, North West Labour History

Nick Mansfield is Senior Research Fellow in History at the University of Central Lancashire, Preston.