A study of four Durham mining villages in the period 1870 to 1926 which examines the effects of Methodism on the political life of the villages during an especially important phase of trade union and political history. Professor Moore's research is both vivid and scholarly. He lived in the community, he can report first-hand on the villagers he talked with, and at the same time he produces an ambitious contribution to the social sciences.
1. Historical background; 2. The Deerness Valley; 3. The social and economic basis of paternalism: the colliery-owners in the Deerness Valley; 4. Village Methodism - I; 5. Village Methodism - II: the structure of the Methodist societies in the Deerness Valley; 6. The respectable Methodists and the old Liberalism; 7. The radicals and the Labour Movement, 1900-1926; 8. Methodists in action: three political case studies; 9. 1970 - a postscript; Conclusions.
