''The Enemy Within: The Secret War Against the Miners'' is a book by British journalist and writer

Seumas Milne Seumas Patrick Charles Milne (born 5 September 1958)Winchester College: A Register. Edited by P.S.W.K. McClure and R.P. Stevens, on behalf of the Wardens and Fellows of Winchester College. 7th edition, 2014. pp. 582 (Short Half 1971 list heading) ...

, first published in 1994. Updated editions were released in 1995, 2004, and 2014.

Synopsis

The book investigates the circumstances surrounding the

UK miners' strike (1984–1985) UK miners' strike may refer to: *UK miners' strike (1893) *South Wales miners' strike (1910) * National coal strike of 1912 *UK miners' strike (1921) *UK miners' strike (1953) *UK miners' strike (1969), a widespread unofficial strike *UK miners' st ...

and the involvement of intelligence services in destroying the miners and the lengths the police, intelligence services and government went to in subverting public opinion. Verso Books stated that "In this 30th anniversary edition new material brings the story up to date with further revelations about the secret war against organised labour and political dissent".

Reception

Owen Jones Owen Jones (born 8 August 1984) is a British newspaper columnist, political commentator, journalist, author, and left-wing activist. He writes a column for ''The Guardian'' and contributes to the ''New Statesman'' and ''Tribune.'' He has two w ...

described the book as "A terrifying, frightening indictment of the British establishment" while

Naomi Klein Naomi A. Klein (born May 8, 1970) is a Canadian author, social activist, and filmmaker known for her political analyses, support of ecofeminism, organized labour, left-wing politics and criticism of corporate globalization, fascism, ecofascism ...

praised it as "The definitive account of the strike—the best book on the Thatcher era". In ''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...

'' the book was commended as "A staggering journalistic investigation" with Joseph Crilly writing that "one can only allow one’s head to swirl with a sense of the iniquity and the dishonesty involved". The book was also recommended by '' Red Pepper'' in which Huw Beynon described the book as a "classic" and wrote "Through Seamus Milne’s unique reporting into the dark side of the miners’ strike, we can find roots of the repression that Britain continues to struggle with"."Classic book: The Enemy Within"
''redpepper.org.uk''.

References

1994 non-fiction books 2004 non-fiction books 2014 non-fiction books Books by Seumas Milne Books about politics of the United Kingdom MI5 UK miners' strike (1984–1985) Non-fiction books about espionage Books about intelligence agencies Books about media bias Books about the media Verso Books books {{media-book-stub