Once again, Professor Carl Chinn has assembled a fascinating collection of chapters on the people and places of the Black Country. From the furnaces of Bilston to Cradley Heath's chain makers, Carl shows how the specialist skills of the Black Country allowed the region to grow and flourish.

Carl tells, too, of the bravery of the region's regiments in the horrors of the First World War and the terrible price paid by those who had joined up with such confidence and patriotism.

The Irish connection is also examined along with the history of the little churches and chapels which provided moral strength to the community.