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

Paperback / softback

Main Details

Title Contesting Home Defence: Men, Women and the Home Guard in the Second World War
Authors and Contributors      By (author) Penny Summerfield
By (author) Corinna Peniston-Bird
SeriesCultural History of Modern War
Physical Properties
Format:Paperback / softback
Pages:328
Dimensions(mm): Height 216,Width 138
Category/GenreBritish and Irish History
Oral history
Second world war
ISBN/Barcode 9780719062025
ClassificationsDewey:940.531610941
Audience
General
Professional & Vocational
Illustrations Illustrations, black & white|Tables

Publishing Details

Publisher Manchester University Press
Imprint Manchester University Press
Publication Date 31 March 2007
Publication Country United Kingdom

Description

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. -- .

Author Biography

Penny Summerfield is Professor of Modern History at the University of Manchester. Corinna Peniston-Bird is Lecturer in History at the University of Lancaster -- .