Don Nerbas

Don Nerbas, “‘Lawless Coal Miners’ and the Lingan Strike of 1882–1883: Remaking Political Order on Cape Breton’s Sydney Coalfield”. Labour Le Travail, 92, 81–122.

In “‘Lawless Coal Miners’ and the Lingan Strike of 1882–1883: Remaking Political Order on Cape Breton’s Sydney Coalfield,” Don Nerbas masterfully combines local labour history with the wider social and economic changes that marked Cape Breton’s coalfields at the end of the 19^th century. Much more than simply an insightful study of political economy, Nerbas combines immigration and demographic histories with political culture and local custom for a beautifully articulated project. In tying regional practice to both the National Policy and Canada’s place in the global system of commodity exchange, this highly readable study sheds significant light regarding an episode previously understood simply as a “short-lived rebellion of passing significance.”