Glasgow has a rich and vibrant history of working-class revolt and although this book styles itself as “skeletal,” it’s a more than worthwhile contribution if only for the passion that the author brings to his subject.

Beginning in the late 18th century, Couzin’s story of “the city of compassion and wisdom” runs through to the present day, with major industrial strikes covered in reasonable detail. The UCS work- in of 1971-72 is fairly well known, yet others like the 1787 weavers’ strike are less so and Couzin does a valuable job in rescuing them and community-based struggles such as the great rent strikes from historical obscurity.

And he details the mass opposition to war and conscription that serve as a timely rebuke to revisionist accounts of anti-war movements.

One of the book’s greatest strengths is the number of short portraits of the great republican Thomas Muir, the legendary John Maclean, the indefatigable Helen Crawford and the tireless Tom Bell — all are covered in just the right amount of detail for an introductory work of this kind.

Yet there are faults. Much more could have been made of the secular, republican and humanist legacy of Glasgow and little is made of its links to Ireland and there is nothing about the city’s great anti-fascist tradition, particularly during the 1930s.

Couzin makes reference to Glasgow as the birthplace of the European temperance movement but then doesn’t mention it again. In part, this is down to his concentration on the libertarian/anarchist end of the spectrum and there are a fair few pages devoted to the history of Glasgow anarchism from the late 19th century up until the punk-inspired movements of the 1980s.

They’re complemented by fascinating portraits of Guy Aldred, Ethel MacDonald, John Taylor Caldwell and Frank Leech, which is fair enough — all too often these people and movements have been ignored in favour of other perhaps more successful currents.

But it’s a bit amiss to give them so much space as if they are synonymous with genuine radicalism rather than the “state socialism” that the author has so little time for.

It would have been good to get some idea of what places of significance we can visit today because radical walking tours are fairly common in many cities and Couzin is more than amply qualified to give us some information from street level.

One to bear in mind for the next edition?