The aim of the German bombing raids on this country was to bomb us into submission, instead they strengthened hatred and resolve. And in Juliet Gardiner’s absorbing and meticulous history of the Blitz we see this resolve growing and in this account, like no other I’ve read, alongside records of the human devastation, the author gives prominence to the destruction of buildings and the irreplaceable cultural losses suffered. Indeed reading the book, one feels a growing anger, anger at what has been lost and anger at what has so often replaced it. An involving account, a masterly weaving together of stories, concentrating not just on London, Juliet Gardiner surveys the extent of the Blitz throughout the country. My final words of praise must go to the author’s balanced view, highlighting not just the heroes but also the failures, the cowards and the incompetents, making this one of the most fully rounded pictures of the Blitz I’ve yet read.
| Primary Genre | History |
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From the author of 'Wartime' and 'The Thirties'comes an outstanding history of the most prolonged and devastating attack ever endured by Britain's civilian population -- the Blitz. September 1940 marked the beginning of Nazi Germany's sustained attack on civilian Britain. Lasting eight months, the Blitz was a new and terrible form of warfare that had been predicted throughout the 1930s, widely feared since Neville Chamberlain's declaration that Britain was at war. Yet, compared with other great events of that war - Dunkirk, the Battle of Britain, D-Day - the Blitz remains curiously overlooked; while the London Blitz has been much documented, there exists very little in the way of a comprehensive account of the Blitz experience as a whole - or of its social, political and cultural implications. In her new book, critically acclaimed historian Juliet Gardiner finally gives the Blitz the historical attention it deserves. Exploring this national story, she charts the impact of the nightly bombings on the entire country. And while loss and devastation affected the whole of Britain, the attacks also served to galvanise the nation: in the face of the terrifying Nazi onslaught, a new determination steadily emerged. Revealing, original and beautifully written, The Blitz is a much-needed re-examination of one of the most important aspects of Second World War history.
The Blitz : The British Under Attack features in the following genres: History, Biographies & Autobiographies, Books of the Month, eBooks of the Month, Non-Fiction Books of the Month, History and Archaeology, Biography, Literature and Literary studies, Recommendations
The Blitz : The British Under Attack is available in Paperback, Hardback
The Blitz : The British Under Attack was written by Juliet Gardiner and published by HarperPress an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers
The Blitz : The British Under Attack has 352 pages
£11.69
