Awards

• Winner of American Historical Association Morris D. Forkosch Prize 2012.
• Winner of Winner of the Morris D. Forkosch Prize 2012.

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9780199604111

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Reviews

[H]e increases our understanding of an important, still imperfectly understood time, helping to clarify how a substantial, unprecedented shift towards a more equal society was achieved, incomplete and impermanent though it turned out to be. Pat Thane, Times Literary Supplement A fascinating, kaleidoscopic history of the British working class during World War II, which upends many familiar stereotypes about the war and British society. It also demonstrates that there is still plenty of life in the field of labor history, whose death has been prematurely announced many times. Prof. Eric Foner, The Nation This carefully written, solidly researched and clearly argued book must be a part of all historical studies of the last century ... Essential. Prof. M. J. Moore, Choice Field's book is an important intervention precisely because it decisively brings the workers back in, placing them at the heart of wartime social and political change, and in doing so deepening our understanding of the wars impact on class relations ... an excellent book, one of the outstanding features of which is Field's mastery of a rich body of sources. Ben Jackson, English Historical Review

[H]e increases our understanding of an important, still imperfectly understood time, helping to clarify how a substantial, unprecedented shift towards a more equal society was achieved, incomplete and impermanent though it turned out to be. Pat Thane, Times Literary Supplement A fascinating, kaleidoscopic history of the British working class during World War II, which upends many familiar stereotypes about the war and British society. It also demonstrates that there is still plenty of life in the field of labor history, whose death has been prematurely announced many times. Prof. Eric Foner, The Nation This carefully written, solidly researched and clearly argued book must be a part of all historical studies of the last century ... Essential. Prof. M. J. Moore, Choice Field's book is an important intervention precisely because it decisively brings the workers back in, placing them at the heart of wartime social and political change, and in doing so deepening our understanding of the wars impact on class relations ... an excellent book, one of the outstanding features of which is Field's mastery of a rich body of sources. Ben Jackson, English Historical Review This is a splendid, well-written, and deeply researched study of the British working class during the Second World Waran essential text about Britain during the war Peter Stansky, Journal of British Studies For anyone seriously engaged in the study of wartime Britain, Field's work will likely be read for years to come. Adam R. Seipp, H-Net Reviews Field's readable, persuasive, and informed account should hold a prominent place in the literature for some years to come...[He] has unanswerably demonstrated the emergence of a new inclusivity in the wartime nation .. [and] has provided a superbly documented account of the centrality of class to the history of wartime Britain. Kevin Morgan, International Review of Social History Field ...brings forth a fresh eye and a highly impressive volume of primary research; his analysis is always thoughtful and stimulating ... He has refocused our minds on class, has proposed some credible hypotheses, and has done much to illuminate them. His book will repay rereading, and is likely to become a key point of reference in the literature. ... engaging and deftly written study ... For anyone seriously engaged in the study of wartime Britain, Field's work will likely be read for years to come. Adam R. Seipp, H-Net Reviews Field's readable, persuasive, and informed account should hold a prominent place in the literature for some years to come ... [he] has unanswerably demonstrated the emergence of a new inclusivity in the wartime nation ...[and] has provided a superbly documented account of the centrality of class to the history of wartime Britain. Kevin Morgan, International Review of Social History

It is to be hoped that Geoffrey Fields comprehensive and thought-provoking book will make a major critical contribution to the seemingly endless process of repositioning the Second World War in popular understanding. Penny Summerfield, History Workshop Journal [H]e increases our understanding of an important, still imperfectly understood time, helping to clarify how a substantial, unprecedented shift towards a more equal society was achieved, incomplete and impermanent though it turned out to be. Pat Thane, Times Literary Supplement A fascinating, kaleidoscopic history of the British working class during World War II, which upends many familiar stereotypes about the war and British society. It also demonstrates that there is still plenty of life in the field of labor history, whose death has been prematurely announced many times. Prof. Eric Foner, The Nation This carefully written, solidly researched and clearly argued book must be a part of all historical studies of the last century ... Essential. Prof. M. J. Moore, Choice Field's book is an important intervention precisely because it decisively brings the workers back in, placing them at the heart of wartime social and political change, and in doing so deepening our understanding of the wars impact on class relations ... an excellent book, one of the outstanding features of which is Field's mastery of a rich body of sources. Ben Jackson, English Historical Review a rich, densely textured social and cultural history of class relations in Britain that goes a considerable way to realizing long-lost ambitions toward 'total history' ... Blood, Sweat, and Toil will rightly take its place alongside such now-classic accounts as Angus Calder's The People's War (London 1969) and Paul Addison's The Road to 1945 (London, 1975). Alan Campbell, Journal of Modern History This is a splendid, well-written, and deeply researched study of the British working class during the Second World Waran essential text about Britain during the war Peter Stansky, Journal of British Studies For anyone seriously engaged in the study of wartime Britain, Field's work will likely be read for years to come. Adam R. Seipp, H-Net Reviews Field's readable, persuasive, and informed account should hold a prominent place in the literature for some years to come...[He] has unanswerably demonstrated the emergence of a new inclusivity in the wartime nation .. [and] has provided a superbly documented account of the centrality of class to the history of wartime Britain. Kevin Morgan, International Review of Social History Field ...brings forth a fresh eye and a highly impressive volume of primary research; his analysis is always thoughtful and stimulating ... He has refocused our minds on class, has proposed some credible hypotheses, and has done much to illuminate them. His book will repay rereading, and is likely to become a key point of reference in the literature. War in History ... engaging and deftly written study ... For anyone seriously engaged in the study of wartime Britain, Field's work will likely be read for years to come. Adam R. Seipp, H-Net Reviews Field's readable, persuasive, and informed account should hold a prominent place in the literature for some years to come ... [he] has unanswerably demonstrated the emergence of a new inclusivity in the wartime nation ...[and] has provided a superbly documented account of the centrality of class to the history of wartime Britain. Kevin Morgan, International Review of Social History It is to be hoped that Geoffrey Fields comprehensive and thought-provoking book will make a major critical contribution to the seemingly endless process of repositioning the Second World War in popular understanding. Penny Summerfield, History Workshop Journal in its challenge to the triumphalist narrative of the war, Field's study has staying power. Blood, Sweat, and Toil will perhaps have its greatest afterlife in the classroom ... The individual chapters on women's mobilization, evacuees, the Blitz, industrial relations and trade unions, or the military could surely provide undergraduates with a more complex survey of Britain's good war, including the serious class tensions that shaped the wartime experience. Joel Hebert, Journal of Social History

[H]e increases our understanding of an important, still imperfectly understood time, helping to clarify how a substantial, unprecedented shift towards a more equal society was achieved, incomplete and impermanent though it turned out to be. Pat Thane, Times Literary Supplement

Author Information

Geoffrey Field received his undergraduate degree in history from Oxford University and a Ph.D from Columbia University. His research and publications have focused on twentieth-century German and British history and European racism. His book, Evangelist of Race: The Germanic Vision of Houston Stewart Chamberlain, won the Anisfield-Wolf Award for the best book on race relations in any discipline and an Outstanding Book of the Year Award from Choice. He has been a visiting professor at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris, and the University of Paris, 13. He is also a former Chair of the New York Council for the Humanities, was a Senior Editor of International Labor and Working-Class History, and continues to serve on the journal's editorial board.

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