Captain swing: A retrospect

Abstract

Captain Swing, authored by Eric Hobsbawm and George Rud and published in 1969, was one of the key texts in the development of the new British social history of the 1960s and 1970s. On its fortieth anniversary, this introduction to the special theme looks back at the significance and impact that Captain Swing had, and continues to have, on the study of popular protest. The author locates the approach taken by its writers within the political and historiographical context of its time and examines how successive historians including the two authors following this retrospect have built upon and challenged the arguments which the book advanced. © 2009 Internationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis.