Download or read book The Spirit of the Blitz written by Paul Addison and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2020-08-06 with total page 545 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the Blitz, the morale of the British people was clandestinely monitored by Home Intelligence, a unit of the Ministry of Information that kept watch on the behaviour and opinions of the public and eavesdropped on their conversations. Drawing on a wide range of intelligence sources from every region of the United Kingdom, a small team of officials based at the Senate House of the University of London compiled secret reports on the state of popular morale as the Luftwaffe attacked Britain's major towns and cities between September 1940 and May 1941. Edited and introduced by two leading historians of the period, who tell the inside story of Home Intelligence and why it proved so controversial in Whitehall, the complete and unabridged sequence of reports provide us with a unique and extraordinary window into the mindset of the British during a momentous period in their history. Not only do they include in-depth reports on the effects of the bombing, including special reports on Coventry, Clydebank, Hull, Barrow-in-Furness, Plymouth, Merseyside and Portsmouth, but also insights into almost every aspect of everyday life in Britain as well as the response of the public to the shifting military fortunes of the war. Reading like the collective diary of a nation, the reports strip away the nostalgia that has grown up around the period, reminding us instead of the sufferings and sacrifices, the many frustrations and difficulties of daily life, the administrative bungling, the grumbling and petty jealousies, and the determination of the overwhelming majority to put up with it all for the sake of beating Hitler.
Download or read book The Myth Of The Blitz written by Angus Calder and published by Random House. This book was released on 2012-06-30 with total page 318 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Myth of the Blitz was nurtured at every level of society. It rested upon the assumed invincibility of an island race distinguished by good humour, understatement and the ability to pluck victory from the jaws of defeat by team work, improvisation and muddling through. In fact, in many ways, the Blitz was not like that. Sixty-thousand people were conscientious objectors; a quarter of London's population fled to the country; Churchill and the royal family were booed while touring the aftermath of air-raids; Britain was not bombed into classless democracy. Angus Calder provides a compelling examination of the events of 1940 and 1941 - when Britain 'stood alone' against the Luftwaffe - and of the Myth which sustained her 'finest hour'.
Download or read book Blitz Spirit written by Becky Brown and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2020-10-08 with total page 317 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Fascinating ' Elizabeth Day 'A hugely affecting and absorbing read.' The Bookseller 'Finally, a book that is proving very therapeutic in these difficult times... Full of doubt, fear, anger and rueful comedy, they give the lie to the idea that the Brits maintained a stiff upper lip, but it's immensely consoling to know that our forebears sometimes thought that they were living through the end times but survived to enjoy better and brighter days.' Jonathan Coe, The Times 'With 34 million of us in Tier 3, these Mass Observation diaries have an added fascination: it's impossible to read them without coming across parallels on almost every page, people's characters revealing themselves under wartime restrictions just as they do under Covid ones.' The Times 'A great book - such a good read.' Jeremy Vine 'Brown's book features an eclectic selection from the wartime years and is full of fascinating and sometimes surprising insights.' Mail on Sunday 'Moving and unexpectedly funny, it's these words that may offer comfort.' Woman's Weekly 'What extraordinary voices of Britain living through crisis! A brilliant testament to resilience.' Anne Glenconner 'A stirring and evocative account of life on the home front. Full of surprises that bring a fascinating perspective on the blitz spirit.' - Deborah Cadbury, author of Chocolate Wars and Princes at War *** Throughout the Second World War hundreds of people kept diaries of their private daily lives as part of a groundbreaking national experiment. They were warehousemen and WRENs, soldiers and farmhands, housewives and journalists, united only by a desire to record the history they were living through. For decades their words have been held in the Mass-Observation Archive, a time capsule of ordinary voices that might otherwise have been forgotten. These voices tell the human story behind the iconic events of those six years, of the individuals grappling with a world turned upside down. From panic-buying and competitively digging for victory to extraordinary acts of bravery, Blitz Spirit is a remarkable collection of real wartime experiences that represent the best and worst of human nature in the face of adversity. Resonant, darkly funny and deeply moving, this new collection will reveal what it was like to live through a crisis of unprecedented proportions. A cacophony of hope, cynicism and resilience, Blitz Spirit celebrates ordinary lives - however small - and shines a light on the people we were, and the people we are now.
Download or read book Media Myth and Terrorism written by D. Kelsey and published by Springer. This book was released on 2015-04-28 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Media, Myth and Terrorism is a rigorous case study of Blitz mythology in British newspaper responses to the July 7th bombings. Considering how the press, politicians and the public were caught up in popular accounts of Britain's past, Kelsey explores the ideological battleground that took place in the weeks following the bombings.
Download or read book The Blitz written by Juliet Gardiner and published by HarperCollins Publishers. This book was released on 2011-03-01 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: September 1940 marked the beginning of Nazi Germany's sustained attack on civilian Britain. Lasting eight months long, the Blitz was the form of warfare that had been predicted throughout the 1930s, that everyone had expected since Neville Chamberlain's declaration that Britain was at war with Germany. The ferocity of the Luftwaffe attacks, combined with images of the City of London burning are widely considered to be iconic snapshots of Second World War history. Though compared with other great moments of that war -- D-Day, Dunkirk, V E Day -- the Blitz remains curiously unexamined. Apart from fragmentary accounts and local records, there is little in the way of a comprehensive account of the Blitz experience that so many British civilians went through -- as well as the social, political and cultural implications of the bombardment. Designed to break the morale of the British population, the nightly bombings certainly did devastate. But, as Juliet Gardiner shows in this hugely important book, they also served to galvanise the nation; from those eight months of terrifying Nazi onslaught, a new determination amongst people and politicians steadily emerged. Revealing, original and beautifully written, THE BLITZ is a much-needed exploration of one of the most important moments in Second World War history.
Download or read book The Secret History of the Blitz written by Joshua Levine and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2015-07-30 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Blitz of 1940-41 is one of the most iconic periods in modern British history - and one of the most misunderstood. The 'Blitz Spirit' is often celebrated, whereas others dismiss it as a myth. Joshua Levine's thrilling biography rejects the tired arguments and reveals the human truth: the Blitz was a time of extremes of experience and behaviour. People werepulling together and helping strangers, but they were also breaking rules and exploiting each other. Life during wartime, the author reveals, was complex and messy and real. From the first page readers will discover a different story to the one they thought they knew - from the sacrifices made by ordinary people to a sudden surge in the popularity of nightclubs; from secret criminal trials at the Old Bailey to a Columbine-style murder in an Oxford College. There were new working opportunities for women and clandestine homosexual relationships conducted in the shadows. The Blitz also allowed for a melting pot of cultures: whilst prayers were offered up in a south London mosque, Jamaican sailors crossed the country. Unlikely friendships were fostered and surprising sexualities explored - these years saw a boom in prostitution and even the emergence of a popular weekly magazine for fetishists. On the darker side, racketeers and spivs made money out of the chaos, and looters prowled the night to prey on bomb victims. From the lack of cheese to the increased suicide rate, this astonishing and entertaining book takes the true pulse of a 'blitzed nation'. And it shows how social change during this time led to political change - which in turn has built the Britain we know today.
Download or read book Blitzkrieg written by Tony George and published by Createspace Independent Pub. This book was released on 2009-08-01 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this day and age we as Christains can no longer afford to be ignorant of satans devises.There are area's of our lives that remain in bondage because we are praying in general , but not really hitting the bullseye . These prayers were birthed out through the furnance of Affliction . We are in a dispensation where we can no longer not adress satanic forces that are reaping havoc on our lives strategically. So we must rise up in the stragies of Heaven and the Word of God to Combat the host of hell, and defeat them through prayer and the word of God.The Kingdom suffereth violence and the violent take it by force!!!
Download or read book Spirit of the Blitz written by Marc Blake and published by Andrews UK Limited. This book was released on 2020-09-08 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the Blitz of 1940, many thousands of Londoners were forced to take shelter in the Underground. On the very first day, twelve-year-old William Lumley, his mother, and little sister Aggie are bombed out. Fleeing to the safety of the Tube, they begin a subterranean existence and Will befriends the station marshall, Mr Sands. Although they are sheltered from the constant bombing above, there is great danger underneath the streets. There’s a gang of spivs as well as temptation and frustration in the form of Will’s fickle cousin Evie. But worst of all an evil, malignant being lurks deep in the tunnels, appearing at night to steal the children away. Only Will has seen the beast, but can he find a way to convince others of the danger amidst the chaos and destruction of war-torn London? This young adult thriller from award-winning author Marc Blake is set during one of the most fascinating and dangerous periods in London’s history and will make a perfect addition to any mystery fan’s bookshelf.
Download or read book The Blitz Companion written by Mark Clapson and published by University of Westminster Press. This book was released on 2019-04-02 with total page 316 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Blitz Companion offers a unique overview of a century of aerial warfare, its impact on cities and the people who lived in them. It tells the story of aerial warfare from the earliest bombing raids and in World War 1 through to the London Blitz and Allied bombings of Europe and Japan. These are compared with more recent American air campaigns over Cambodia and Vietnam in the 1960s and 1970s, the NATO bombings during the Balkan Wars of the 1990s, and subsequent bombings in the aftermath of 9/11. Beginning with the premonitions and predictions of air warfare and its terrible consequences, the book focuses on air raids precautions, evacuation and preparations for total war, and resilience, both of citizens and of cities. The legacies of air raids, from reconstruction to commemoration, are also discussed. While a key theme of the book is the futility of many air campaigns, care is taken to situate them in their historical context. The Blitz Companion also includes a guide to documentary and visual resources for students and general readers. Uniquely accessible, comparative and broad in scope this book draws key conclusions about civilian experience in the twentieth century and what these might mean for military engagement and civil reconstruction processes once conflicts have been resolved.
Download or read book The Splendid and the Vile written by Erik Larson and published by Crown. This book was released on 2020-02-25 with total page 609 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The author of The Devil in the White City and Dead Wake delivers an intimate chronicle of Winston Churchill and London during the Blitz—an inspiring portrait of courage and leadership in a time of unprecedented crisis “One of [Erik Larson’s] best books yet . . . perfectly timed for the moment.”—Time • “A bravura performance by one of America’s greatest storytellers.”—NPR NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times Book Review • Time • Vogue • NPR • The Washington Post • Chicago Tribune • The Globe & Mail • Fortune • Bloomberg • New York Post • The New York Public Library • Kirkus Reviews • LibraryReads • PopMatters On Winston Churchill’s first day as prime minister, Adolf Hitler invaded Holland and Belgium. Poland and Czechoslovakia had already fallen, and the Dunkirk evacuation was just two weeks away. For the next twelve months, Hitler would wage a relentless bombing campaign, killing 45,000 Britons. It was up to Churchill to hold his country together and persuade President Franklin Roosevelt that Britain was a worthy ally—and willing to fight to the end. In The Splendid and the Vile, Erik Larson shows, in cinematic detail, how Churchill taught the British people “the art of being fearless.” It is a story of political brinkmanship, but it’s also an intimate domestic drama, set against the backdrop of Churchill’s prime-ministerial country home, Chequers; his wartime retreat, Ditchley, where he and his entourage go when the moon is brightest and the bombing threat is highest; and of course 10 Downing Street in London. Drawing on diaries, original archival documents, and once-secret intelligence reports—some released only recently—Larson provides a new lens on London’s darkest year through the day-to-day experience of Churchill and his family: his wife, Clementine; their youngest daughter, Mary, who chafes against her parents’ wartime protectiveness; their son, Randolph, and his beautiful, unhappy wife, Pamela; Pamela’s illicit lover, a dashing American emissary; and the advisers in Churchill’s “Secret Circle,” to whom he turns in the hardest moments. The Splendid and the Vile takes readers out of today’s political dysfunction and back to a time of true leadership, when, in the face of unrelenting horror, Churchill’s eloquence, courage, and perseverance bound a country, and a family, together.
Download or read book Half the battle written by Robert Mackay and published by Manchester University Press. This book was released on 2013-07-19 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This electronic version has been made available under a Creative Commons (BY-NC-ND) open access license. How well did civilian morale stand up to the pressures of total war and what factors were important to it? This book rejects contentions that civilian morale fell a long way short of the favourable picture presented at the time and in hundreds of books and films ever since. While acknowledging that some negative attitudes and behaviour existed—panic and defeatism, ration-cheating and black-marketeering—it argues that these involved a very small minority of the population. In fact, most people behaved well, and this should be the real measure of civilian morale, rather than the failing of the few who behaved badly. The book shows that although before the war, the official prognosis was pessimistic, measures to bolster morale were taken nevertheless, in particular with regard to protection against air raids. An examination of indicative factors concludes that moral fluctuated but was in the main good, right to the end of the war. In examining this phenomenon, due credit is accorded to government policies for the maintenance of morale, but special emphasis is given to the ‘invisible chain’ of patriotic feeling that held the nation together during its time of trial.
Download or read book The Days of Mars written by Bryher and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt P. This book was released on 1971 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book London Was Ours written by Amy Helen Bell and published by I.B. Tauris. This book was released on 2011-05-30 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For the nine months of the Blitz, London was subjected to a brutal and indiscriminate bombing campaign, aimed for the first time in history at shattering the resolve of a nation. The Nazi raids on night-time London provide some of the defining narratives of World War II: the 'blitz spirit', air raid shelters in Underground stations and all the horrifying reality of one of the world's most powerful and historic cities under violent attack. This book tells the epic story of a London under siege through the voices of those that lived it. Amy Helen Bell here uncovers the personal stories of hundreds of Londoners from all walks of life, who scribbled in diaries and notebooks from inside air raid shelters and bombed-out houses to record their experiences of the Blitz. Expertly weaving these together, drawing out themes of loss, courage and love, what emerges is a thoughtfully argued and beautifully composed commentary on Britain's collective memory of one of the great conflicts of modern times. By letting the warmth, despair and hope of these personal recollections speak, 'London Was Ours' becomes a collective testament to the resilience of a people and a meditation on the nature of a nation's history.
Download or read book The Spirit of the Blitz written by Paul Addison and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2020-08-06 with total page 545 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Edited and introduced by two leading historians of the period, this volume tells the inside story of Home Intelligence and why it proved so controversial in Whitehall, the complete and unabridged sequence of reports provide us with a unique and extraordinary window into the mindset of the British during a momentous period in their history.
Download or read book Blitz Diary written by Carol Harris and published by The History Press. This book was released on 2011-11-30 with total page 138 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the 1930s, war with Germany became increasingly likely. The British Government believed that it would start with massed ranks of enemy planes, dropping bombs and poison gas on civilians in major towns and cities, terrifying them into surrendering. When war broke out, preparations to protect the population were piecemeal and inadequate. As anticipated, people were shocked by the first raids and the response of rescue services was chaotic. But far from breaking morale, the Blitz galvanised public opinion in support of the war. Soon people became hardened by their experiences and attacks from the air became a normal, albeit terrible, part of daily life.Blitz Diary tells the story in a remarkable series of eyewitness accounts from the war’s earliest and darkest days through to the end, when the V-2 rockets brought devastation without warning. Preservation of such first-hand accounts has become increasingly important as the Blitz fades from living memory. This expanded edition includes new chapters and new accounts from key eyewitnesses.
Download or read book The Battle of London 1939 45 written by Jerry White and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2023-06-08 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The definitive social history of London in the Blitz, which transformed life in the capital beyond recognition. For Londoners the six long years of the Second World War were a time of almost constant anxiety, disruption, deprivation and sacrifice. The Blitz began in earnest in September 1940 and from then on, for prolonged periods, London was under sustained aerial bombardment by night and by day. Throughout the war, the capital was the nation's front line; by its end, 30,000 Londoners had lost their lives. Yet if the bombing defined the era for those who lived through it, the months of terror were outnumbered by those spent knitting together the fabric of daily life at work, in the home, on the allotment, in the cinema or theatre and, not least, standing in those interminable queues for daily necessities that were such a feature of London's war. Much has been written about 'the Myth of the Blitz' but in this riveting social history, Jerry White has unearthed what actually happened during those tempestuous years, getting close up to the daily lives of ordinary people, telling the story through their own voices. At the end of it all, the Battle of London was won not on the playing fields of Eton but in the playgrounds of a thousand council elementary schools across the capital.
Download or read book The Story of World War II written by Donald L. Miller and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2010-05-08 with total page 706 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing on previously unpublished eyewitness accounts, prizewinning historian Donald L. Miller has written what critics are calling one of the most powerful accounts of warfare ever published. Here are the horror and heroism of World War II in the words of the men who fought it, the journalists who covered it, and the civilians who were caught in its fury. Miller gives us an up-close, deeply personal view of a war that was more savagely fought—and whose outcome was in greater doubt—than readers might imagine. This is the war that Americans at the home front would have read about had they had access to the previously censored testimony of the soldiers on which Miller builds his gripping narrative. Miller covers the entire war—on land, at sea, and in the air—and provides new coverage of the brutal island fighting in the Pacific, the bomber war over Europe, the liberation of the death camps, and the contributions of African Americans and other minorities. He concludes with a suspenseful, never-before-told story of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, based on interviews with the men who flew the mission that ended the war.
