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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.… (more)
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Since the end of the Second World War many myths have built up that have become ‘historically’ correct in our minds even if they are false memories. Joshua Levine helps to shatter that myth with this well written and well researched book, The
In a previous life Joshua Levine was a criminal barrister who has used his forensic skills to tunnel down in to what is sometimes remembered through sepia tinted glasses. My great aunt was a caretaker who lived on the premises during the Blitz and she used to go on the roof with a bottle of whisky and shoot ‘if I am going, I am going pissed!’ rather than run off to an air raid shelter. Levine looks at the other stories the ones that are not usually mentioned in the history of the time, which makes this quite readable.
The first major air raid on Britain happened in June 1940 but it is widely acknowledge that the Blitz itself did not begin until the September. This also shows that the Government were having to work on the fly, reacting rather than being proactive, such as the use of the Underground as air raid tunnels. It was also a time when the British Army had been defeated at Dunkirk and were losing in the eyes of the public and this caused a great deal of mental anguish in the population. Levine uses the example of the Student at Oxford who was firing a rifle and should have met the hangman but was declare insane.
One of the things that does come through besides the fear of the population is the living in the moment and some of the illicit affairs that people had is used to illustrate that. Along with a growth in the Black Market the Blitz was also used as a business opportunity by many criminals, once again help to give this book some colour.
While there was clearly psychological trauma felt by many, Levine also shows that a mood of defiance grew from the Blitz, to the never surrender attitude of the British. The book also shows that the British in spite of what the Germans were throwing at them just dusted themselves down and got on with it.
Levine draws together many illustrations of what he writes, whether it is criminal enterprise of using the Blitz as cover to break in to warehouses. Levine also uses some heart rendering anecdotes which can pull on the heart strings.
This is an excellent social history of the Blitz that does just more than churn out the number of victims or the cost of the Blitz. It looks at how the people reacted and survived then moved on to give that ‘bull dog’ spirit to British attitudes.