Product Description

The traditional image of the Home Front in World War II is of cheery Londoners, singing along to Vera Lynn on the radio and making do and mending as bombs fall all around them. But there was another side to life in wartime Britain, a side many would like to forget. Questionable Governmental procedures often hindered Britain's chance of winning the war. With meticulous plans for protecting the nation's art treasures, little preparation was made for the protection of its population. A catalogue of authoritarian blunders shows in frightening detail just how close Britain came to a totalitarian state. Propaganda fed to the people bore scant relation to the facts, and dark forces like racism found a ready outlet in wartime society. Crime continued to flourish, and the class tensions in prewar society were often thrown into sharp relief. This is a portait of a nation at arms.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #139020 in Books
• Published on: 2003-02-13
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

About the Author
Stuart Hylton's previous books include Reading at War, Rationing to Rock. The 1950s Revisited and the Magical History Tour.the 1960's Revisited.

Customer Reviews

Unoriginal and disappointing
Sadly this book was just a rehash and compilation of stories and anecdotes from the more major histories of the British Home Front by Calder, Longmate et al. It brings nothing new to the subject and seems to just use published histories rather than original first hand sources. Frustratingly for the student, although there is a bibliography, this book is unusable as it does not contain footnotes or reveal where he got his facts, so cannot be quoted from. A seemingly lazy, disappointing and wasted opportunity to write on an exciting and original subject. If you want a brilliant, original and well-sourced history of the Home Front's darker real side, try 'Underworld at War' by Donald Thomas.

A darker take on the black out.
Hylton offers a readable account of Britain and the Blitz - not the official account of 'Britain can take it', but a warts and all look at the reality of war. Disasters, crime, pomposity. An excellent corrective to the emotional hype which has tended to dominate the era.