Contesting Home Defence - Men, Women and the Home Guard in the Second World War

Informationen zum Autor Penny Summerfield is Professor of Modern History at the University of Manchester Penny Summerfield is Professor of Women's History at Manchester University Corinna Peniston-Bird is Lecturer in History at the University of Lancaster Klappentext Contesting home defence is a new history of the Home Guard, a novel national defence force of the Second World War composed of civilians who served as part-time soldiers: it questions accounts of the force and the war, which have seen them as symbols of national unity. It scrutinises the Home Guard's reputation and explores whether this 'people's army' was a site of social cohesion or of dissension by assessing the competing claims made for it at the time. It then examines the way it was represented during the war and has been since, notably in Dad's Army, and discusses the memories of men and women who served in it. The book makes a significant and original contribution to debates concerning the British home front and introduces fresh ways of understanding the Second World War. Zusammenfassung Offering a new contribution to debates about the British home front in WWII! this book addresses the way the Home Guard has been remembered in popular culture through examination of key films! as well as TV's Dad's Army. The authors also explore the personal memories of individuals who served in the Home Guard. Inhaltsverzeichnis List of illustrationsList of abbreviationsPreface and acknowledgements1. Introduction: contested historiesPART ONE: POLITICAL CHALLENGES2. The People's Army: competing visions of the Home Guard3. Women, weapons and home defencePART TWO: REPRESENTATIONS4. The Home Guard in wartime popular culture5. Representations of women and home defence6. Dad's Army and Home Guard historyPART THREE: PERSONAL TESTIMONY7. Men's memories of the Home Guard8. Women, memory and home defence9. ConclusionAppendix 1 Personal Testimony: WomenAppendix 2 Personal Testimony: MenBibliography...

Product details

• Authors: Corinna Peniston-Bird, Corinna (Senior Lecturer in Gender and Cultural History) Peniston-Bird, Peniston-Bird Corinna, Penny Summerfield, Penny Summerfield, Penny Peniston-Bird Summerfield, Summerfield Penny
• Assisted by: Ana Carden-Coyne (Editor), Peter Gatrell (Editor), Max Jones (Editor), Penny Summerfield (Editor), Bertrand Taithe (Editor)
• Publisher: Manchester University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 31.03.2007
• EAN: 9780719062025
• ISBN: 978-0-7190-6202-5
• No. of pages: 328
• Series: Cultural History of Modern War; Cultural History of Modern War
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > 20th century (up to 1945); Oral History, European History, HISTORY / Military / General, HISTORY / Europe / General, HISTORY / Social History, British & Irish history, Second World War, c 1938 to c 1946 (World War Two period), Modern warfare, HISTORY / Wars & Conflicts / World War II / General