Don't You Know There's a War On?: The People's Voice 1939-45(Routledge Revivals)

Was the country really united in the face of the common enemy? Did people actually put the community’s needs before their own? Or were such ideas simply a series of myths created at the time and nurtured ever since. The recollections of this book, first published in 1989, attempt to answer such questions by evoking the reality of life on the home front during the war years. Here is a uniquely personal portrait of a nation at war, extensively illustrated with photographs, diaries, letters, poems, and other memorabilia belonging to the men and women whose wartime lives fill this absorbing book. This title will be of interest to students of history.

Table of Contents:
List of Documents; Acknowledgements; Introduction; Part 1: Home Front; 1. The City Mother 2. The Soldier’s Daughter 3. The Country Mother 4. The Shopkeeper’s Son; Part 2: Two Nations; 5. The Scholarship Girl 6. The Town Kid 7. The Airman’s Daughter 8.The Scholarship Boy; Part 3: Women’s Work; 9. The Railway Inspector 10. The Pilot 11. The Civil Servant 12. The Shop Steward 13. The Student Volunteer 14. The Timber Yard Worker; Part 4: A Kind of Schooling; 15. The State School Day 16. The Country Teacher 17. The Public School Boy 18. The City Teacher; Part 5: Taking It; 19. The Magazine Editor 20. The Stockbroker’s Daughter 21. The Enemy Alien 22. The Barrister’s Daughter; Part 6: A Matter of Conscience; 23. The Pacifist Prisoner 24. The Actor’s Wife 25. The Jehovah’s Witness 26. The Shelter Warden 27. The Dissident Student; Part 7: Community Spirit; 28. The Doctor’s Wife 29. The Mill Girl 30. The Small-Town Boy 31. The Miner’s Daughter; Part 8: Out of Step; 32. The High School Teacher 33. The Party Member 34. The Organizing Secretary 35. The Office Girl; Postscript: A Brave New World?; Further Reading; Appendices

About the Author :
Jonathan Croall is the author of more than twenty books, including Neill of Summerhill: The Permanent Rebel (1983). A former features editor of the Times Educational Supplement, he is now a full-time writer and biographer, specialising in theatre and film.