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.
About the Author
Penny Summerfield is Professor of Modern History at the University of Manchester. Corinna Peniston-Bird is Lecturer in History at the University of Lancaster
Book Information
ISBN 9780719062025
Author Penny Summerfield
Format Paperback
Page Count 328
Imprint Manchester University Press
Publisher Manchester University Press
