All Quiet on the Home Front: An Oral History of Life in Britain During the First World War

by Richard van Emden, Steve Humphries

Overview

A “fascinating” look at hardship, heroism, and civilian life in England during the Great War (World War One Illustrated).
 
The truth about the sacrifice and suffering among British civilians during World War I is rarely discussed. In this book, people who were there speak about experiences and events that have remained buried for decades.
 
Their testimony shows the same candor and courage we have become accustomed to hearing from military veterans of this war. Those interviewed include a survivor of a Zeppelin raid in 1915; a Welsh munitions worker recruited as a girl; and a woman rescued from a bombed school after five days. There are also accounts of rural famine, bereavement, and the effects on families back home—and even the story of a woman who planned to kill her family to save them further suffering.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781473891968
Publisher:	Pen & Sword Books Limited
Publication date:	02/20/2019
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	224
Sales rank:	569,492
File size:	12 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

RICHARD VAN EMDEN has interviewed more than 270 veterans of the Great War and has written seventeen books on the subject including _The Trench_ and _The Last Fighting Tommy_, both of which were top ten sellers. He has also worked on more than a dozen television programmes on the Great War, including the award-winning _Roses of No Man's Land, Britain's Boy Soldiers, A Poem for Harry, War Horse: the Real Story, Teenage Tommies_ with Fergal Keane and most recently, _Hidden Histories: WWI's Forgotten Photographs_. He lives in London. graduated from Newcastle University in 1988, and obtained an MA from Reading University in the following year. After working as a journalist he became a freelance writer and researcher. Having worked on several historically-based television series, he wrote his first book, Tickled to Death to Go which he has followed up with several highly acclaimed and commercially successful titles, including Britain's Last Tommies, Boy Soldiers, , The Quick and the Dead, Meeting the Enemy and Tommy's Ark.
STEVE HUMPHRIES began his career as a university lecturer before setting up Bristol-based Testimony Films in 1992\. A highly respected and influential producer and writer, his oral-history series have included _A_ _Labour of Love, Forbidden Britain, Veterans, Green and Pleasant Land_ and _The Call of the Sea_, all of which he has written books to accompany. He is also Vice-President of the Oral History Society. Steve produced and directed the television programme _Horror on the Home Front._RICHARD VAN EMDEN has interviewed more than 270 veterans of the Great War and has written seventeen books on the subject including _The Trench_ and _The Last Fighting Tommy_, both of which were top ten sellers. He has also worked on more than a dozen television programmes on the Great War, including the award-winning _Roses of No Man's Land, Britain's Boy Soldiers, A Poem for Harry, War Horse: the Real Story, Teenage Tommies_ with Fergal Keane and most recently, _Hidden Histories: WWI's Forgotten Photographs_. He lives in London.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements vii

Introduction ix

Chapter 1 A Nation in Arms 1

Chapter 2 East Coast Bombardment 33

Chapter 3 The Enemy Within 53

Chapter 4 'It is my painful duty …' 81

Chapter 5 Caring for the Wounded 117

Chapter 6 The First Blitz 149

Chapter 7 The Year of Hunger 189

Chapter 8 Toil and Trouble 221

Chapter 9 The darkness before the Dawn 255

Chapter 10 Bittersweet Victory 291

Select Bibliography 321

Index 325

Editorial Reviews

This reviewer has read a number of histories of the home fronts of Britain, the U.S., and France, and this oral history is by far the most fascinating… These oral histories are powerful enough to stand on their own, in addition to the fact that the interviewees often also recounted their parents’ perspectives on these events. If you’re going to buy only one book on the British home front, it should be this one.

World War One Illustrated

This book covers every aspect of social history and the effects military decisions had on citizens back home. The line "At 11am on the 11th of November 1918 the country went wild with joy" in the final chapter sums up the spirit of all the contributors.

WDYTYA? Magazine

This book covers every aspect of social history and the effects military decisions had on citizens back home. The line "At 11am on the 11th of November 1918 the country went wild with joy" in the final chapter sums up the spirit of all the contributors.

Who Do You Think You Are?

"The home front in WW2 is immortalised forever in Dads' Army - nothing similar for WW1, and yet the people left behind faced even bigger challenges, especially when so many men failed to return home after the hostilities. Noted WW1 historian sets the records straight in this fasinating account of what went on back home."

Books Monthly