World War One had a devastating, cataclysmic impact on the world and the British people. As its reverberations were so long-lasting and significant, it is easy to assume that the social consequences were as profound. In this highly readable and moving survey of life back at home during the First World War, Gerard DeGroot challenges this assumption, finding pre-war social structures were … surprisingly resilient. Despite economic and technological changes, the British peoplemanaged to cling onto their usual ways of life as much as possible in this new world.
Back in Blighty has been fully revised to take into account new scholarship and historical perspectives, and is full of fascinating glimpses into everyday life during the war. The lives of ordinary people are illuminated and given historical significance in this powerful portrait of the British people and their culture.
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This book sets out to look at the big picture, examine the full context, of the Great War – and to bust a few myths along the way. Which it does succeed at, more or less. Unfortunately this involved a lot of broad generalisations, so that “women” or “soldiers” or “officers” or “pacifists” were frequently spoken of as homogeneous groups – even …