A review by schopflin
Blacklisted: The Secret War Between Big Business and Union Activists by Dave Smith, Phil Chamberlain

3.5

Genuinely interesting look at the construction blacklisting scandal. My initial interest was the relationship between the information gathering and the law, but it's impossible not to be shocked and moved by the stories - individuals unable to work because they had exercised their legal right to join a union. The chapters about police monitoring start to build a picture of a deeply paranoid culture spending millions on surveillance when most employees are doing nothing more radical than attending a committee meeting. This isn't the most fluently written book and it shows signs of having been assembled over a number of years but it is excellent testimony of its story.