Britain and the Second World War

by Henry Pelling

352 pages, Paperback

First published August 27, 1970

About the author

A specialist in modern British political history, Henry Mathison Pelling was educated at Birkenhead School and St John's College, Cambridge. He taught at Queen's College, Oxford and St. John's College, Cambridge.

Reviews

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Published in 1970, this is exactly the kind of data driven, intensely analytical survey of a subject that used to be required or at least recommended supplemental reading when I was at university - and I loved them. This volume is marked as one in the series of Fontana History of War and Society and I always keep an eye out for them in the paperback racks of my favorite used bookstores. This is a date driven discussion of the effects of World War II on the life of Britain. Other titles in the series present similar assessments in connection with the First World War, the Boer War, the Crimean War, and the Napoleonic Wars (I'll be keeping any eye peeled for all of them). Such studies are a good source for understanding the impact and effect of war and warfare on the combatant nations and their population and how the experience of war introduces change in civilian society, the economy, and governance, among other things. The 1970 date does mean that the author hasn't heard about the codebreaking that went on during the war or the many other details that have since emerged about how the war was actually fought - but this is still an excellent base line on the general topic.