Which People's War?: National Identity and Citizenship in Wartime Britain 1939-1945 / Edition 1

by Sonya O. Rose

Overview

What did it mean to be British during the 'People's War'? Professor Rose uses material from newspapers, diaries, novels and letters to examine popular notions of citizenship on the home front. She shows that what we now mean by 'identity politics' was alive and well in the 1940s and that any singular conception of 'Britishness' was extremely fragile.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199273171
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	08/19/2004
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	300
Product dimensions:	9.10(w) x 6.10(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

University of Michigan

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements1. Introduction: National Identity and Citizenship2. 'Who Killed Cock Robin?': The Wartime Nation and Class3. 'Good-time' Girls and Quintessential Aliens4. 'Be Truly Feminine': Contradictory Obligations and Ambivalent Representations5. Temperate Heroes: Masculinity on the Home Front6. Geographies of the Nation7. 'The End is Bound to Come': Race, Empire, and Nation8. Conclusions and Afterthoughts

Editorial Reviews

"[Rose's] painstakingly researched and ambitious study uses Britain as a case study tor the powerful, yet ambiguous, nature of national identity formation, especially during times of crisis...[A] necessary and enlightening addition to the scholarship on World War II, nationalism, and notions of citizenship."—History

"This exceptionally well-written and solidly researched study deserves a wide audience...Highly Recommended. All levels and collections."—CHOICE

From the Publisher