Men at Work ─ The Working Man in British Culture, 1939-1945

A total war like the Second World War could not be won by soldiers, sailors and airmen alone. Men were required to till the fields, to manufacture munitions, to traverse the oceans with cargoes and to combat the ravages of the Luftwaffe's onslaught. As such, millions of British men of fighting age were not in uniform. These men were central to victory. However, in a culture in which almost exclusively lauded the armed forces hero how was the vital work of these men portrayed to the British populace? Through an analysis of commercial cinema, radio broadcasts, print media as well as overt state propaganda, in conjunction with extensive archival research, Men at Work explores this very question.

Linsey Robb is a cultural and social historian based at the University of Strathclyde, UK. She has predominantly published on the representations, experiences and memories of civilian men during the Second World War.