"1984. The miners' strike. It is the closest Britain has come to civil war in sixty years, setting the government against the people. David Peace's sweeping, bloody and dramatic fictional portrait of the year that left an indelible mark on the nation's consciousness covers a broad and unexpected canvas of characters. In his trademark visceral prose, Peace describes the insidious workings of the boardroom negotiations and the increasingly anarchic coalfield battles: the struggle for influence in government and the dwindling powers of the NUM: and the corruption, intrigue and dirty tricks which run through the whole like a fault in a seam of coal."--BOOK JACKET.