"This is the first substantial history of two industries that have played a huge role in the social and economic history of Scotland. Covering over 300 years of labour and working conditions, it focuses on the men and boys who mastered heat and fire to make and shape iron in furnaces, forges, mills and foundries before, during, and after the Industrial Revolution. It also concentrates on working lives spent in steel production from the beginning of the industry in the 1870s until lits demise in the 1990s, focusing on aspects such as technological changes, employer/worker relations and the role of the trades unions."--BOOK JACKET.