European University Institute Library

Demobbed, coming home after the Second World War, Alan Allport

eng

Includes bibliographical references and index

platesillustrations

index present

non fiction

Demobbed

bibliography

421534544

Alan Allport

coming home after the Second World War

"Snapshots of gaiety and celebration - the street parties, the victory speeches - are how some people today think of Britain in 1945. But the years following the end of World War II were far from a 'golden age' of pride and self-confidence. The country was troubled though triumphant, subject to continued rationing and political change. Wracked by social disorder, austerity and disillusion, Britain was exhausted - and it was the return of those men who had fought for their country who seemed to be a root cause of the trouble. Demobbed is the real story of what happened when millions of ex-servicemen returned home. Most had been absent for years, and the joy of arrival was often clouded with ambivalence, regrets and fears. Returning soldiers faced both practical and psychological problems, from reasserting their place in the family home to rejoining a much-altered labour force. Civilians worried that their homecoming heroes had been barbarized by their experiences and would bring crime and violence back from the battlefield. Problem veterans preoccupied the entire country. Alan Allport draws on their personal letters and diaries, on newspapers, reports, novels and films to illuminate the darker side of the homecoming experience for ex-servicemen, their families and society at large."--, Provided by Publisher

Now this bloody war is over -- So, you're back then -- My faithless English rose -- What the hell has happened to this country? -- Clocking on -- They made me a fugitive -- Something has gone wrong inside my head