'A moving microhistory of working-class girlhood' BBC History Magazine It is 1937 in a northern mill-town and a class of twelve- and thirteen-year-old girls are writing about their lives, their world, and the things that matter to them. They tell of cobbled streets and crowded homes; the Coronation festivities and holidays to Blackpool; laughter and fun alongside poverty and hardship. They are destined for the cotton mill but they dream of being film stars. Class of '37 uses the writing of these young girls, as collected by the research organisation Mass Observation, to rediscover this lost world, transporting readers back in time to a smoky industrial town in an era before the introduction of a Welfare State, where once again the clouds of war were beginning to gather. Woven within this rich, authentic history are the twists and turns of the girls' lives from childhood to beyond, from their happiest times to the most heart-breaking of their sorrows. A compelling social history, this intimate reconstruction of working-class life in 1930s Britain is a haunting and emotional account of a bygone age.

This insightful book offers a timely assessment of the complex relationship between women and leisure in England, drawing upon recent feminist theory. Departing from approaches which focus on particular activities or institutions, it places everyday experiences at its centre, presenting a wide-ranging and lively account of changing perceptions, representations and experiences of leisure across the period 1920-60. It addresses the nature of leisure within women's lives, examining shifting understandings of the concept and identifying areas of definitional ambiguity such as the 'family' holiday, shopping and handicrafts. Focusing upon experiences of leisure across the life cycle, it provides a detailed assessment of the particular forms of leisure enjoyed by women at distinct stages of their lives, including cinema-going, dancing, socialising and home-based pursuits. The book demonstrates that experiences and perceptions of leisure were fundamentally structured along life cycle lines: leisure in youth was often characterised by freedom and independence whilst leisure in adulthood became a vehicle for service and duty to others. -- .

LONGLISTED FOR THE RSL ONDAATJE PRIZE ___ 'A moving microhistory of working-class girlhood' BBC History Magazine ___ It is 1937 in a northern mill-town and a class of twelve- and thirteen-year-old girls are writing about their lives, their world, and the things that matter to them. They tell of cobbled streets and crowded homes; the Coronation festivities and holidays to Blackpool; laughter and fun alongside poverty and hardship. They are destined for the cotton mill but they dream of being film stars. Class of '37 uses the writing of these young girls, as collected by the research organisation Mass Observation, to rediscover this lost world, transporting readers back in time to a smoky industrial town in an era before the introduction of a Welfare State, where once again the clouds of war were beginning to gather. Woven within this rich, authentic history are the twists and turns of the girls' lives from childhood to beyond, from their happiest times to the most heart-breaking of their sorrows. A compelling social history, this intimate reconstruction of working-class life in 1930s Britain is a haunting and emotional account of a bygone age. ___ Praise for Class of '37 'A treasure trove of childhood' - i paper 'A fascinating account' - Bolton News 'We're used to Mass Observation revealing adult treasures, but to have them from these irrepressible children is doubly rewarding. An engrossing and gently heart-breaking insight into this chatter of still lives before everything changed, and a wonderful rear-view glimpse of their vanishing world' - Simon Garfield 'Characters [...] shine brightly from every page' - Daily Mail

Contented housewives, glamorous women, jive-mad teenagers - all are common figures in popular perceptions of 1950s Britain. But what more did it mean to be a girl or woman in the fifties? And what are the implications of this history for understanding post-war Britain? Women in Fifties Britain explores the lived experience of girls and women, and the way in which their story has been told. Crossing boundaries - disciplinary, conceptual and thematic - and drawing creatively on new and established sources, it extends and enriches the terrain of women's history. Diverse groups of women come into view, including farmer's wives, university-educated women, activist housewives, working mothers, Jewish refugees, girls 'at risk' and private secretaries. Revealing that their private, public and professional lives were central to reshaping society, the collection engages with the legacy of World War II, and with questions about the distinctiveness of the 1950s. Embracing emotion, labour, gender, class, race, sociability, sexuality and much more, the authors offer penetrating exploration of established and new categories of historical analysis. Placing the politics of gender at the heart of Britain's reconstruction, this engaging and important collection re-visions 1950s Britain and the women that made it. This book was originally published as a special issue of Women's History Review.

Contented housewives, glamorous women, jive-mad teenagers - all are common figures in popular perceptions of 1950s Britain. But what more did it mean to be a girl or woman in the fifties? And what are the implications of this history for understanding post-war Britain? Women in Fifties Britain explores the lived experience of girls and women, and the way in which their story has been told. Crossing boundaries - disciplinary, conceptual and thematic - and drawing creatively on new and established sources, it extends and enriches the terrain of women's history. Diverse groups of women come into view, including farmer's wives, university-educated women, activist housewives, working mothers, Jewish refugees, girls 'at risk' and private secretaries. Revealing that their private, public and professional lives were central to reshaping society, the collection engages with the legacy of World War II, and with questions about the distinctiveness of the 1950s. Embracing emotion, labour, gender, class, race, sociability, sexuality and much more, the authors offer penetrating exploration of established and new categories of historical analysis. Placing the politics of gender at the heart of Britain's reconstruction, this engaging and important collection re-visions 1950s Britain and the women that made it. This book was originally published as a special issue of Women's History Review.