An alternative history of twentieth century Wales by the nation’s leading cultural historian.

From Rhondda heroes chasing the American dream to rioters staking a claim in their society, In the Frame is a powerful alternative history of twentieth-century South Wales, offered from the personal viewpoint of cultural historian Dai Smith.

It takes the reader into a territory - a mythical and veritable Dai Country - formed by the influence of writers and painters, boxers and historians, friends and relatives, rioters and correspondents, critics and photographers. As well as the autobiographical overtones of a Tondypandy childhood and a distinguished career, In the Frame contains the far wider undertones of a collective biography. Its mosaic pieces together the consciousness of a society which led its inhabitants in search of fame and fortune as well as the daily struggle for rights and recognition without sympathy or sentimentality.

Dai Smith is currently chair of the Arts Council of Wales. His previous publications include (with Hywel Francis) The Fed: History of the South Wales Miners in the Twentieth Century (1980); Wales: A Question for History (1999) and Raymond Williams: A Warrior’s Tale (2008). Dai Smith is also series editor of the Library of Wales series. Born in Tonypandy he now lives in Barry and is a professor at Swansea University.