# More books about the London Blitz? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 26, 2010, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-books-about-the-london-blitz/530552 "2010-02-26T19:08:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-books-about-the-london-blitz/530552/1 "2010-02-26T19:08:28Z")
So, it turns out that _Blackout_ is only half a stinking book. It ends right in the middle and it’s all, like, “Stay tuned!” But I’m _totally_ right there in 1940 right now, damn it! The boyfriend’s alarm went off this morning and I thought it was the sirens. I need more fix. Is there any other really good fiction set in the time period? I don’t want soldier’s D-Day stories or American stuff or whatever - I want things set in London with blackout curtains and the ARP and “Hitler Can Break Our Windows But He Can’t Beat Our Prices!” But nothing dumb and schmaltzy, and nothing silly and inaccurate. I’d also like to read more nonfiction on the subject, but I only want stuff from a social, people-centered viewpoint. I don’t really care about strategy or tonnage or whatever. Send that book to my boyfriend - he’ll also want the planespotter guide. He can keep it. Suggestions? I’m sure there’s tons and tons of books - the trouble is sorting through them for the good stuff. ---
**Author:** ![JessEnigma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/cdc98d/32.png) [@JessEnigma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JessEnigma)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-books-about-the-london-blitz/530552/2 "2010-02-26T20:03:21Z")
I can’t help on the fiction front, but for nonfiction accounts of life in the UK during WWII, I really enjoyed Norman Longmate’s _[How We Lived Then](http://www.amazon.co.uk/How-We-Lived-Then-Everyday/dp/0712668322)_. It’s a bit older, with the first edition published in the 1970s, and it’s not entirely London-centric, but it’s based on interviews from people living all over the UK throughout the war and their experiences of everyday life, from things like planning weddings and trying to buy baby clothes to grousing about rationing and leaky bomb shelters. While it does, IIRC, touch on some military stuff, it’s only in the context of how it affected people’s lives, so it is very much a social history type of book. I had some difficulty at first tracking down a copy of my own in the US after I grabbed a copy from my university library and wanted to buy my own (after the library copy disappeared one day :(), but there’s a new edition that’s been out for a few years now, so you ought to be able to find it more easily now. ---
**Author:** ![Eutychus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Eutychus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eutychus)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-books-about-the-london-blitz/530552/3 "2010-02-26T20:15:57Z")
Try _Full Dark House_ by Christopher Fowler. A murder mystery that takes place in a theater company during the blitz. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-books-about-the-london-blitz/530552/4 "2010-02-26T20:18:03Z")
> [@JessEnigma](#): > > I can’t help on the fiction front, but for nonfiction accounts of life in the UK during WWII, I really enjoyed Norman Longmate’s _[How We Lived Then](http://www.amazon.co.uk/How-We-Lived-Then-Everyday/dp/0712668322)_. > > It’s a bit older, with the first edition published in the 1970s, and it’s not entirely London-centric, but it’s based on interviews from people living all over the UK throughout the war and their experiences of everyday life, from things like planning weddings and trying to buy baby clothes to grousing about rationing and leaky bomb shelters. While it does, IIRC, touch on some military stuff, it’s only in the context of how it affected people’s lives, so it is very much a social history type of book. > > I had some difficulty at first tracking down a copy of my own in the US after I grabbed a copy from my university library and wanted to buy my own (after the library copy disappeared one day :(), but there’s a new edition that’s been out for a few years now, so you ought to be able to find it more easily now. Actually, it’s available for Kindle now (albeit an expensive Kindle book.) ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-books-about-the-london-blitz/530552/5 "2010-02-26T20:21:53Z")
Not a book - but the BBC organised a huge project a few years ago to collect ordinary people’s recollections of the war. They ended up with 47,000 submissions covering all aspects of the conflict, but largely home front - they are all here: [WW2 - People’s War](http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/) ---
**Author:** ![Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleanor_of_Aquitaine)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-books-about-the-london-blitz/530552/6 "2010-02-26T20:31:17Z")
You may be pissed at Connie Willis right now, but she has a couple of short stories set during the Blitz. “Firewatch” is about the efforts to preserve St. Paul’s Cathedral, and “Jack” is about a certain type of creature who takes advantage of the chaos of the Blitz. And “The Winds of Marble Arch” is sort of a ghost story about the bombing of the Marble Arch tube station. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-books-about-the-london-blitz/530552/7 "2010-02-26T20:31:47Z")
I’ve read all those. Sad face. (Fire Watch is available free online, though, to those interested. It’s a sad one, though.) ---
**Author:** ![Rocketeer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocketeer/32/4437_2.png) [@Rocketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocketeer)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-books-about-the-london-blitz/530552/8 "2010-02-26T21:09:17Z")
You might try watching the “Foyle’s War” TV series, available on DVD. Set on the Home Front during the big one. Fascinating. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-books-about-the-london-blitz/530552/9 "2010-03-01T22:34:18Z")
There’s a new one out that’s getting good reviews – [The Postmistress](http://www.amazon.com/Postmistress-Sarah-Blake/dp/0399156194/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1267482776&sr=1-1) by Sarah Blake. I expect that some of the “people also bought” books listed on that page might also feature the Blitz. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2010, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-books-about-the-london-blitz/530552/10 "2010-03-21T02:08:52Z")
To report - “How We Lived Then” is AMAZING and available via Kindle, albeit more expensive than many Kindle books. I’m not halfway through but am enjoying it immensely and it’s an amazing work of scholarship - head and shoulders above any similar work I’ve read, Studs Terkel and all. “Foyle’s War” we’re also enjoying quite a bit - the lead actor has quite a face. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2010, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-books-about-the-london-blitz/530552/11 "2010-03-21T03:34:26Z")
Military not civilian and television not book, but check out _Danger UXB_. It’s a British series (13 episodes) from 1979 about a bomb disposal unit.