Product Description

Almost continuously in print for 40 years, this classic title describes life on the home front, analyzing the social changes that made Britain of the 1920s a vastly different place from the Britain that went to war in 1914. This reissued second edition features a new Preface by leading historian Joanna Bourke. Bourke examines how Marwick's work engaged with contemporary debates and why it was so significant when it was first published, and explains its continued importance today.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #86321 in Books
• Published on: 2006-07-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 400 pages

About the Author
ARTHUR MARWICK is Emeritus Professor of History at The Open University, UK. His many publications include War and Social Change in the Twentieth Century (1974), British Society Since 1945 (expanded edition 1990) and The New Nature of History (2001, also published by Palgrave Macmillan).

Customer Reviews

War and British Politics and Society
This is the reissued second edition of Marwick's classic work concerning the effects of the First World War upon British society and politics.

There has been a considerable debate among historians concerning how far, exactly when and why the state was led into intervening in daily life in Britian as a result of the war - this book is an invaulable contribution to this debate. For the general reader, it helps to explain why Britian was so redically changed by the First World War and feeds into other historical debates, for instance the reasons why the British Liberal Party declined.

The book was first issued a generation ago and although the second edition (upon which this book is based) brings to light some newer historical research, one does feel that, in some ways, it is important as one of the major contributions to the effect of the First World War upon Britain, rather than a definitive study. Helpfully, the new introduction discusses the place of Marwick's work in the context of the wider debate and suggests the areas in which Marwick's work is most valuable and where later research has taken the debate further.

Whoa heavy
A good read in terms of acedemic study, but very heavy going, not something to buy unless you are studying the subjects it covers, mainly social change during the first world war.

Indispensable
The importance of this work is summed up in its title "The deluge". Marwick's thesis is that the first world war transformed British society forever. He especially concentrates, which is refreshing, on the life of ordinary people, and not on the details of military operations.

Not to be missed, in my humble opinion. A useful counterweight to recent books which have attempted to defend British military leaders, and to dismiss questions of social inequality.