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We Danced All Night: A Social History of Britain Between the Wars
Bounded by the Great War on one side and by the looming shadow of the Second World War on the other, the inter-war period has characteristically been portrayed as a time of unremitting poverty, rising crime and mass unemployment. In Martin Pugh's lively and thought-provoking new book, however, the acclaimed historian vividly shows how the British people reacted to the privations of wartime by indulging in leisure and entertainment activities of all kinds - from dancing and cinema going to smoking, football pools and paid holidays.
He explodes the myths of a nation of unwed women, revealing that in the 1930s the institution of marriage was reaching its heyday, and points to a rise in real incomes, improvements in diet and health and the spread of cheap luxuries. The result is an extraordinary, engaging work of history that presents us with a fresh perspective and brings out both the strangeness and the familiarity of this point in time.
694 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 3, 2008
11 people are currently reading
204 people want to read
About the author
Martin Pugh
30 books5 followersMartin Pugh is a historian of nineteenth- and twentieth-century Britain, and was formerly professor of modern British history at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. His publications include State and Society and The Pankhursts.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
February 19, 2017
This history book concentrates on the history between the wars, something I was keen to know more about as inevitably this period is overshadowed by those very wars.
The book is split into chapters each one looking at different aspects of the period, including the role of women, crime, schooling, childhood etc. which makes reading it a pleasure. This is an easy book to dip into and gain some insight into the lives our ancestors would have lived. Hugh doesn't ignore the past in this link and in places uses data from later on to put some of the facts and figures into context.
An engaging book good for anyone who wants to get an overall picture of the period.
The book is split into chapters each one looking at different aspects of the period, including the role of women, crime, schooling, childhood etc. which makes reading it a pleasure. This is an easy book to dip into and gain some insight into the lives our ancestors would have lived. Hugh doesn't ignore the past in this link and in places uses data from later on to put some of the facts and figures into context.
An engaging book good for anyone who wants to get an overall picture of the period.
October 27, 2021
Reading this book was a radical time period shift from the Anglo-Saxon books I've been reading, and also much tighter in focus on two decades rather than several centuries. It was a nice change from those, as was the focus of the book. I had been struggling a bit with my reading previously, and this was a lot easier.
The tagline on my copy was "a social history of Britain between the wars," and that very much dictates the way the book is written. It is not a chronological view of the two decades, it's a look at the themes of society over those years. Though it focuses on the interwar years, there are a lot of pre-war contrast because so many themes start before and then get changed or accelerated by the First World War.
That thematic approach makes a lot of sense, particularly as it's about the social history and not the big political narrative of reparations and the lead up to the Second World War. Without that political aspect, you can't have a chronological narrative because the various themes of life, so you go thematically.
Usually, thematic approaches don't work for me because they're usually sandwiched and chopped and changed around the narrative chronological events. That style feels really jumbled, because it's hard to bounce between the two.
However, the purely social themes meant that it worked well because it didn't involve me trying to match the thematic to a narrative. Plus it allowed for a dive into each of the areas across a period rather than doing it piecemeal for each theme in each year.
Overall, it's a good overview to the various aspects of life often ignored in historical overviews of periods that like to focus on the big events of history.
The tagline on my copy was "a social history of Britain between the wars," and that very much dictates the way the book is written. It is not a chronological view of the two decades, it's a look at the themes of society over those years. Though it focuses on the interwar years, there are a lot of pre-war contrast because so many themes start before and then get changed or accelerated by the First World War.
That thematic approach makes a lot of sense, particularly as it's about the social history and not the big political narrative of reparations and the lead up to the Second World War. Without that political aspect, you can't have a chronological narrative because the various themes of life, so you go thematically.
Usually, thematic approaches don't work for me because they're usually sandwiched and chopped and changed around the narrative chronological events. That style feels really jumbled, because it's hard to bounce between the two.
However, the purely social themes meant that it worked well because it didn't involve me trying to match the thematic to a narrative. Plus it allowed for a dive into each of the areas across a period rather than doing it piecemeal for each theme in each year.
Overall, it's a good overview to the various aspects of life often ignored in historical overviews of periods that like to focus on the big events of history.
June 27, 2020
I loved the personal touches, the windows into the world(s) of people in London and surrounding areas particularly as they rejoiced with one war down, sadly not knowing there was another war to go.
The people are so impressive whether in war time or not. For all the criticism of the English, they are redeemed by writings such that of Martin Pugh. This is a book for the forever-book-shelf.
The people are so impressive whether in war time or not. For all the criticism of the English, they are redeemed by writings such that of Martin Pugh. This is a book for the forever-book-shelf.
June 30, 2019
Excellent read. Informative, entertaining, packed full of interesting information. For those readers interested in this particular period in English history dont miss this book.
October 8, 2020
A very interesting book, highly recommended if you want to learn about British society in the 1920s and 1930s - it covers practically all bases.
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October 17, 2022This was the fun part of coursework…
July 12, 2021
This is one of the books I've been reading as research for what I thought was going to be my next novel, but now may be the novel after next. The story of life in Britain between the wars. (My idea is set in 1920-21)
I really enjoyed this, some fascinating research, the world was just coming out of a global pandemic and there was optimism for what lay ahead. It was a mix of reassuring and depressing. I don't want to get across the idea that "there are many parallels" but hay, there are many parallels.
Anyway if you want a grand overview of how everything was in Britain between the wars this is a good place to start.
I really enjoyed this, some fascinating research, the world was just coming out of a global pandemic and there was optimism for what lay ahead. It was a mix of reassuring and depressing. I don't want to get across the idea that "there are many parallels" but hay, there are many parallels.
Anyway if you want a grand overview of how everything was in Britain between the wars this is a good place to start.
August 29, 2016
Mixed feelings about this. Subjectively, I enjoyed it a lot. Objectively, big spoonful of salt. Flawed but highly recommendable.
It's not a 'scholarly' work although I acknowledge that it took a tremendous amount of research to make it happen. I wasn't looking for a scholarly work, but for a readable sweeping overview and that is certainly what I got.
The book is divided into chapters - about 20 - on different themes that I chose to read one by one. But it would have been equally readable if I had treated it as 'through composed'.
The writer used diaries and letters of the time and memoirs of people of the time. Overwhelmingly male. There's little point in using 'ordinary people' as your source if you overlook half of the ordinary people. He probably didn't do it deliberately, he probably doesn't even know of the existence of women.
Despite the use of 'ordinary' people it was very biased towards the upper class. Far too much writing about the period focuses on the privileged elites - the Bright Young Things, the Brideshead Generation. He claims that writers of the time were overwhelmingly left wing and therefore focused on the effects of The Depression, Industrial Decline and Unemployment. But according to this writer, this is a biased view of the era and actually, people were prosperous. He reveals his biases in the chapters that outline the multi-national and regional aspect of the UK. And he does that chapter very well. I suppose it's like any era eg the Victorian age or our own. Those who are prosperous or comfortably off are doing well. The poor are poor, whether it's absolute or relative. The two can exist side-by-side and never the twain shall meet.
Like many historians he's shy of statistics and numbers; instead he makes assertions that are impossible to question because we don't know the numbers of people who fall into the category. He does make passing reference to unemployment figures, and, frankly, on a localised basis they really are shocking and do rather contradict his 'never had it so good' argument.
His obvious bias against the Labour Party and pro-monarchy and aristocracy is never much below the surface. It's a legitimate argument that Britain escaped the extremes of either Fascism or Communism because of a democratic socialist party with its roots in the Trade Union movement but he manages to make this seem like a regrettable thing.
He's at his best when focusing on the more obviously social aspect of history. The chapter on aviation stands out. Perhaps he could do more on buildings, although, again, he's very good on developments and planning, the Metroland phenomenon and the ribbon developments along roads built for the growing number of motor cars. He's good on prices,especially the falling cost of living. It's an omission that it's not accompanied by an illustration of typical wages and salary.
Overall, I think he did a good job of covering so many different aspects in a book of manageable length. In that respect it was exactly what I was looking for. Very readable. It doesn't answer all my questions, which will require reading more narrower-focused books.
One or two reviewers have moaned about how he starts some histories before WW1, but that made sense. Whether it was a subject like aviation, where 1918 would make no sense as a starting point, or areas such as housing and employment, where it was important to see what was a continuation and what was a decisive break with the past.
At the end, he concludes that the 50s and 60s were a continuation of the 20s and 30s, with WW2 an interruption. And implied in that is WW1 being a watershed in social history. We could argue all day about the necessary imprecision and the exceptions to that general rule, but it works for me.
It's not a 'scholarly' work although I acknowledge that it took a tremendous amount of research to make it happen. I wasn't looking for a scholarly work, but for a readable sweeping overview and that is certainly what I got.
The book is divided into chapters - about 20 - on different themes that I chose to read one by one. But it would have been equally readable if I had treated it as 'through composed'.
The writer used diaries and letters of the time and memoirs of people of the time. Overwhelmingly male. There's little point in using 'ordinary people' as your source if you overlook half of the ordinary people. He probably didn't do it deliberately, he probably doesn't even know of the existence of women.
Despite the use of 'ordinary' people it was very biased towards the upper class. Far too much writing about the period focuses on the privileged elites - the Bright Young Things, the Brideshead Generation. He claims that writers of the time were overwhelmingly left wing and therefore focused on the effects of The Depression, Industrial Decline and Unemployment. But according to this writer, this is a biased view of the era and actually, people were prosperous. He reveals his biases in the chapters that outline the multi-national and regional aspect of the UK. And he does that chapter very well. I suppose it's like any era eg the Victorian age or our own. Those who are prosperous or comfortably off are doing well. The poor are poor, whether it's absolute or relative. The two can exist side-by-side and never the twain shall meet.
Like many historians he's shy of statistics and numbers; instead he makes assertions that are impossible to question because we don't know the numbers of people who fall into the category. He does make passing reference to unemployment figures, and, frankly, on a localised basis they really are shocking and do rather contradict his 'never had it so good' argument.
His obvious bias against the Labour Party and pro-monarchy and aristocracy is never much below the surface. It's a legitimate argument that Britain escaped the extremes of either Fascism or Communism because of a democratic socialist party with its roots in the Trade Union movement but he manages to make this seem like a regrettable thing.
He's at his best when focusing on the more obviously social aspect of history. The chapter on aviation stands out. Perhaps he could do more on buildings, although, again, he's very good on developments and planning, the Metroland phenomenon and the ribbon developments along roads built for the growing number of motor cars. He's good on prices,especially the falling cost of living. It's an omission that it's not accompanied by an illustration of typical wages and salary.
Overall, I think he did a good job of covering so many different aspects in a book of manageable length. In that respect it was exactly what I was looking for. Very readable. It doesn't answer all my questions, which will require reading more narrower-focused books.
One or two reviewers have moaned about how he starts some histories before WW1, but that made sense. Whether it was a subject like aviation, where 1918 would make no sense as a starting point, or areas such as housing and employment, where it was important to see what was a continuation and what was a decisive break with the past.
At the end, he concludes that the 50s and 60s were a continuation of the 20s and 30s, with WW2 an interruption. And implied in that is WW1 being a watershed in social history. We could argue all day about the necessary imprecision and the exceptions to that general rule, but it works for me.
August 19, 2012
I really enjoyed this book even though some sections were a little boring to me, the rest of the book which had me intrigued totally made up for that. The only reason I got a little bored with some sections was because I am not totally 100% interested in politics and can only take it in short bursts.
However having said that I would recommend this book as some chapters are absolutely rivetting and you can find out so much about 1920's Britain, which I often feel is kind of clouded over as simply the period between the two wars where nothing much happened - but there is plenty that happened that is fascinating and certainly I did not know about until I read this book.
Loved the sections about King Edward VIII and George VI, but I always find anything on this era and these people a real interest to me.
Loved this book and I must buy it myself as the copy I read is from the library and I feel that its good enough for me to want to keep for myself and be able to read again at some point in the future (in a good few years from now of course!)
Highly recommended for anyone who has a keen interest in history.
However having said that I would recommend this book as some chapters are absolutely rivetting and you can find out so much about 1920's Britain, which I often feel is kind of clouded over as simply the period between the two wars where nothing much happened - but there is plenty that happened that is fascinating and certainly I did not know about until I read this book.
Loved the sections about King Edward VIII and George VI, but I always find anything on this era and these people a real interest to me.
Loved this book and I must buy it myself as the copy I read is from the library and I feel that its good enough for me to want to keep for myself and be able to read again at some point in the future (in a good few years from now of course!)
Highly recommended for anyone who has a keen interest in history.
September 13, 2012
Really enjoyed Martin Pugh’s social history of Britain between the wars; it covers so much ground, but never in a dull or boring way. This book is totally engaging, with discussions on subjects as diverse as women’s suffrage, mass entertainment, motor transport, monarchy, and immigration, and all of them framed within a political context. It’s a long book – 500 pages – but I can honestly say it doesn’t feel like that, and it never drags. Pugh is a very readable historian, his work here being completely accessible to the general reader, but you never get the feeling that you’ve been short-changed or that he’s ‘dumbed-down’ the academic credibility of the work. My only real criticism is that it felt as though there was slightly more attention paid to the 1930s, as opposed to the 20s, and at times I felt I would have liked more detail on the earlier decade. An excellent read and highly recommended.
© Koplowitz 2012
© Koplowitz 2012
May 18, 2016
An interesting and different view of Britain between the wars that focussed less on politics and strife and more on the lives of ordinary people at all levels of society, how things were changing, and how they were adjusting to the changes. All sorts of fascinating little bits of info, from the most popular candies to the health issues people were obsessed with to the nightclubs favoured by the famous. Well worth a look for anyone interested in social histories.
May 9, 2013
A fascinating account of the period between the two world wars, entertaining, well-written and informative. Divided into themed chapters, it is not a text-book as such but still gives a strong impression of the period.
April 8, 2014
A very interesting read if you would like to know more about this period in history. It covers many areas which you could explore in more depth should you wish to. It took me a while to read this book as I kept dipping into it but it was easy to pick up where I left off.
January 17, 2013
Fascinating.
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December 11, 2015MARTIN PUGH'S WE DANCED ALL NIGHT IS ALSO RELEVANT TO YOUR INTERESTS.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews