Angus Calder (1942–2008)

An eclectic array of minibiographies covering a lot of people I knew of (but perhaps not well enough) and some intriguing people I for some reason had never heard of before. The eclecticness is so much that you almost feel Calder literally pulled names out of a hat to include, which sometimes makes "Gods, Mongrels and Demons" feel very uneven.

Even so, if Calder ever released a sequel I'm sure I'd read it, if only to see if Calder could top the story of Masiin, the shaman from Tikigaq, Alaska show more who apparently knew of Stalin's death long before anyone else. show less

An amazing compendium of facts and reports of England's struggle in World war II, organized mostly chronologically, subdivided in such a way that roots of difficulties and obstructions are visited to explain the outcome.
The ultimate perspective for those who lived through it is partially one of surprise blended with partial remembrance of Churchill's oratory and statesmanship: raising Dunkirk from the ashes, the joyful arrival of the Yanks in Piccadilly Circus, the Pyrrhic victory implicit show more in the final VE Day.
A much treasured reference book, although one with an axe to grind.
Season with care, show less

A beginning to the discussion of life on the home front. North Americans, like myself, can only approach the experience of steady air attack and the day to day grind of the rationing of practically all consumer goods and food and other amenities by literary efforts like this. It is no wonder that the literature of the time and for the generation following, is fascinated by food. It draws heavily on materials drawn from the "Mass Observation" agency. This book has been re-issued at least show more twice in its history. show less

A great "slice of life" read. The photographs are from the collection of the Tom Harrison Mass-Observation Archive at Sussex University (UK). Also in the Sussex U. archives are diaries kept by people recruited to do so for the Mass-Observation project.

"'Mass-Observation' was begun in 1937 by Tom Harrisson, Charles Madge, and Humphrey Jennings, their object being the anthropological study of the British way of life. In Bolton, Harrisson organized a team of observers to go out and record show more everything they saw: how many men in a pub wore bowler hats, the behaviour of people at war memorials, the changing of shop-window displays. Humphrey Spender took now famous photographs, some of which are reproduced in this book. Meanwhile Madge and Jennings set up a 'National Panel' of volunteers who kept a detailed account of their own lives."

"[this] ...selection from material gathered provides us with fascinating glimpses of Britain in the 1930s and 1940s. The researchers covered the great 'events' of the period - mass unemployment, the blitz, Churchill's defeat in 1945. But they also produced lively descriptions of ordinary life, from the intimacies of marriage to the activities of holiday-makers in Blackpool."

For MORE INFO.: http://www.massobs.org.uk/ -

http://www.sussex.ac.uk/library/speccoll/collection_introductions/massobs.html

http://www.boltonmuseums.org.uk/HTML/spender/history_mass_observation.html -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass-Observation show less