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Wartime Britain 1939-1945
Half the British Army never left Britain during the Second World War and became, with the civilian population, the Home Front.
In 'Wartime Britain 1939-1945' the danger, courage, deprivation, exhaustion, fear, humour and, sometimes, boredom that the population endured for six years is vividly brought to life through the voices of those who lived through them.
From the vitu...more
In 'Wartime Britain 1939-1945' the danger, courage, deprivation, exhaustion, fear, humour and, sometimes, boredom that the population endured for six years is vividly brought to life through the voices of those who lived through them.
From the vitu...more
Published
(first published 2004)
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Juliet Gardiner's Wartime is a superb social history of Britain's "Home Front" experience in the Second World War. Drawing both upon the abundant literature about the war and Mass-Observation diaries kept by contemporaries, she gives readers a real sense of what the war was like for the people of Britain. By far the best book about the subject, it is essential reading for anyone interested in learning about how Britons lived, survived, and died during the long conflict that continues to cast its...more
This big book (692 pages) focuses on life in Britain during the war – a fairly straightforward subject it would seem but how to distill official, contemporary and personal accounts of a fast moving, supremely disruptive time? Gardner does it by gathering her facts under headings of crucial points in time and categories of experience using a formidable array of sources. The reader feels the terror of the blitz and the grinding want of wartime existence.
Wartime is not a history of the war, not ev...more
Wartime is not a history of the war, not ev...more
This is a history of the Second World War, not of the campaigns and the battles, but of the Home Front. Each chapter deals with a different theme - evacuation, rationing, the Blitz, crime, women in the workplace, air raid shelters, propaganda, the media, the Home Guard etc. It's very well-written, very readable and includes a great deal of quotes and anecdotes from diaries, letters, interviews and surveys from the time. It really makes you realise what hell people went through, and how the Home...more
Lots of information on a variety of subjects, and quite thorough. Covers all of Great Britain. Pretty good job of filling in historical and political backstory (e.g. North and South Ireland) without shifting the focus too much. I longed for maps in the book and did refer to my WWII atlas quite a bit. Sometimes there is a bit too much detail to keep the narrative flow going smoothly, but I appreciate being able to refer back to the detail . . . so I can't begrudge that. It's quite comprehensive....more
A terrific read that really broadened my knowledge of wartime culture, the extent of the bombings in cities outside London (why bomb Hastings?) as well as the privations and hardships suffered by the English. Excellent use of primary sources by Gardiner, using diaries and accounts of women who knew firsthand how little you could get with your clothing ration coupons. A fascinating read.
One of those non-fiction books which consists of fascinating items of information strung together with mostly workmanlike but occasionally frankly appalling sentences. (I'm being picky. It was well organised and made excellent use of primary sources. But her PROSE.)
A fantastic work of social history!
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