Book description
The Myth of the Blitz was nurtured at every level of society. It
rested upon the assumed invincibility of an island race distinguished
by good humour, understatement and the ability to pluck victory from
the jaws of defeat by team work, improvisation and muddling through.
In fact, in many ways, the Blitz was not like that. Sixty-thousand
people were conscientious objectors; a quarter of London's population
fled to the country; Churchill and the royal family were booed while
touring the aftermath of air-raids; Britain was not bombed into
classless democracy.
Angus Calder provides a compelling examination of the events of 1940
and 1941 - when Britain 'stood alone' against the Luftwaffe - and of
the Myth which sustained her 'finest hour'.
Angus Calder is Reader in Cultural Studies and Staff Tutor in Arts
with the Open University in Scotland. He read English at Cambridge and
received his D. Phil from the School of Social Studies at the University
of Sussex. He was Convener of the Scottish Poetry Library when it was
founded in 1984. His other books include
The People's War (
also available from Pimlico) and
Revolutionary Empire.
He has contributed to many Open University courses, notably on 'The
Enlightenment', 'Popular Culture' and 'Literature and the Modern World'.
