As the Victorian era drew to a close, Dundee was the world's jute manufacturing capital - 'Juteopolis'. But behind that success was a harsh working environment and low wages, especially for the predominantly female workforce. There was appalling social distress, resulting in part from abysmal living conditions.
As the present century dawned, a new Dundee was in the making. 'Juteopolis' no more; in the later twentieth century Dundee had pro claimed itself Scotland's 'City of Discovery'. Biosciences and computer games are what many people now associate with Dundee - although journalism is still flourishing. In what has become a university city, students abound where mill workers formerly promenaded.
This book traces the process of industrial decline and its social and political reverberations. But it is also a remarkable story of urban transformation, and how this impacted on jobs, the physical environment, social life, culture and politics.
Jute No More is richly illustrated with over 60 images, most of them published for the first time.