Mass-Observation: Britain in the Second World War

This anthology draws on the Mass-Observation archive of diaries, directive replies, and observers' reports to show how civilians in Britain lived through the Second World War. Extracts follow evacuation, the Blitz, rationing, factory and office work, volunteering, rumours, and the strain on marriages and class habits. Voices come from many regions and occupations rather than from a single narrator; officials and ordinary householders sit side by side. The compilers arrange the material by theme and by stage of the war, from the first alerts through the long middle years to victory. The book is a documentary collage of wartime routine and feeling, not a military history of campaigns.

Three-quarter bound in red buckram with monochrome photo cover and gilt spine lettering. Grey slipcase. Red endpapers.