Our People’s War

How did the British people feel during the final years of the Second World War? What did they really think about rationing, evacuations, and the US and Soviet Union joining the Allies? How did the tide of feeling change as the war turned against the Axis Powers and the focus moved to creating a post-war world?
During the war, the morale of the British people was monitored by Home Intelligence, part of the Ministry of Information, that kept watch on the behaviour and opinions of the public. Leading historian Jeremy Crang brings together extensive extracts from the Home Intelligence Reports from June 1941 to December 1944. The collection provides an original and gripping account of life on the home front in the final years of the Second World War.
The book offers unique insights into public reactions to key British military events but also the continuing stresses and strains of life on the home front such as strikes, food rationing and fuel economy. It strips away some of the nostalgia that had grown up around the British home front and enables readers to explore for themselves a fascinating and many-sided record of the 'People's War.'
The collection is a truly exceptional history of the last years of the war. It is indispensable in understanding both the unity and the diversity of wartime Britain, as well as public aspirations for a better post-war 'tomorrow'.