Our Longest Days: A People's History of the Second World War - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1846680883 ISBN 13: 9781846680885

Publisher: Profile Books, 2009

Synopsis

For six years the people of Britain endured bombs and the threat of invasion, and more than 140,000 civilians were killed or seriously wounded. Men and women were called to serve in the armed forces in record numbers, and everyone experienced air raids and rationing. In these terrible times, volunteers of almost every age, class and occupation wrote diaries for the "Mass Observation" project, which was set up in the 1930s to collect the voices of ordinary men and women.

Using many diaries that have never been published before, this book tells the story of the war - the military conflict, and, mainly, life on the home front - through these voices. Through it all, people carry on living their lives, falling in love, longing for a good meal, complaining about office colleagues or mourning allotment potatoes destroyed by a bomb.

About this title

About the Author:

Sandra Koa Wing studied life history research at the University of Sussex, where she became Mass Observation's first Development Officer. She died in May 2007 at the age of 28.

Review:

This was life as it happened and there’s nothing more fascinating than reading history through the words of those who lived it.” Publishing News

"This is an authentic living, breathing history, almost cinematic in its immediacy." - The Observer

"...a compelling collection of real wartime diaries...a waking dream of blown-out-windows drama and real domesticity." -Good Housekeeping

"A fascinating insight into the lives of Britons during the Second World War." - Sunday Express

About this edition

• Publisher: Profile Books
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 1846680883
• ISBN 13: 9781846680885
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 320
• Editor: Wing Sandra Koa