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This volume synthesises the latest scholarship on First World War
veterans in post-war Britain and Ireland, investigating the topic
through its political, social and cultural dynamics. It examines
the post-war experiences of those men and women who served and
illuminates the nature of the post-war society for which service
had been given. Complicating the homogenising tendency in existing
scholarship it offers comparison of the experiences of veterans in
different regions of Britain, including perspectives drawn from
Ireland. Further nuance is offered by the assessment of the
experiences of ex-servicewomen alongside those of ex-servicemen,
such focus deeping understanding into the gendered specificities of
post-war veteran activities and experiences. Moreover, case studies
of specific cohorts of veterans are offered, including focus on
disabled veterans and ex-prisoners of war. In these regards the
collection offers vital updates to existing scholarship while
bringing important new departures and challenges to the current
interpretive frameworks of veteran experiences in post-war Britain
and Ireland.
This volume synthesises the latest scholarship on First World War
veterans in post-war Britain and Ireland, investigating the topic
through its political, social and cultural dynamics. It examines
the post-war experiences of those men and women who served and
illuminates the nature of the post-war society for which service
had been given. Complicating the homogenising tendency in existing
scholarship it offers comparison of the experiences of veterans in
different regions of Britain, including perspectives drawn from
Ireland. Further nuance is offered by the assessment of the
experiences of ex-servicewomen alongside those of ex-servicemen,
such focus deeping understanding into the gendered specificities of
post-war veteran activities and experiences. Moreover, case studies
of specific cohorts of veterans are offered, including focus on
disabled veterans and ex-prisoners of war. In these regards the
collection offers vital updates to existing scholarship while
bringing important new departures and challenges to the current
interpretive frameworks of veteran experiences in post-war Britain
and Ireland.
The First World War has often suffered from comparison to the
Second, in terms of both public interest and the significance
ascribed to it by scholars in the shaping of modern Britain. This
is especially so for the relationship between the Left and these
two wars. For the Left, the Second World War can be seen as a time
of triumph: a united stand against fascism followed by a landslide
election win and a radical, reforming Labour government. The First
World War is more complex. Given the gratuitous cost in lives, the
failure of a 'fit country for heroes to live in' to materialise,
the deep recessions and unemployment of the inter-war years, and
the botched peace settlements which served only to precipitate
another war, the Left has tended to view the conflict as an
unmitigated disaster and unpardonable waste. This has led to a
tendency on the Left to see the later conflict as the 'good' war,
fought against an obvious evil, and the earlier conflict as an
imperialist blunder; the result of backroom scheming, secret pacts
and a thirst for colonies. This book hopes to move away from a
concentration on machinations at the elite levels of the labour
movement, on events inside Parliament and intellectual
developments; there is a focus on less well-visited material.
In the first full length analysis of the rise of left-wing
hobbyists, performative radicals and the 'Identity Left', A Left
for Itself interrogates the connection between socio-economic
realities and politico-cultural views and boldly asks what is a
worthy politics, one for the follower count or one for effecting
change. 'In the sometimes febrile environment of contemporary left
politics, this book is a measured and evaluative contribution.
David Swift cuts through the rhetoric of often violent and divisive
exchanges to uncover the roots, motivations, diverse character and
strengths and weaknesses of the current phenomenon of so-called
`identity politics'.' Dr Stephen Meredith
We are in crisis. As a society we have never been less connected.
The internet and globalisation fuel ignorance and anger, while the
disconnect between people's reality and perceived identities has
never been greater. Karl Marx outlined the idea of a material
'base' and politico-cultural 'superstructure'. According to this
formula, a material reality - wealth, income, occupation -
determined your politics, leisure habits, tastes, and how you made
sense of the world. Today, the importance of material deprivation,
in terms of threats to life, health and prosperity, are as acute as
ever. But the identities apparently generated by these realities
are increasingly detached from material circumstances. At the same
time, different identities are needlessly conflated through a
process of reeling off a list of -isms and -phobias, and are lumped
together, as though these groups all somehow have something in
common with one another. Th is process is not just inappropriate
but obscures the specific nature of problems being faced. In The
Identity Myth, David Swift covers the four different kinds of
identity most susceptible to this trend - class, race, sex and age.
He considers how the boundaries of identities are policed and how
diverse versions of the same identity can be deployed to different
ends. Ultimately, it is not that identities are simply more
'complex' than they appear but that there are more important
commonalities. In a powerful call to arms, Swift argues that we
must unite against these identity myths and embrace our differences
to beat inequality.
We are in crisis. As a society we have never been less connected.
The internet and globalisation fuel ignorance and anger, while the
disconnect between people's reality and perceived identities has
never been greater. Karl Marx outlined the idea of a material
'base' and politico-cultural 'superstructure'. According to this
formula, a material reality - wealth, income, occupation -
determined your politics, leisure habits, tastes, and how you made
sense of the world. Today, the importance of material deprivation,
in terms of threats to life, health and prosperity, are as acute as
ever. But the identities apparently generated by these realities
are increasingly detached from material circumstances. At the same
time, different identities are needlessly conflated through a
process of reeling off a list of -isms and -phobias, and are lumped
together, as though these groups all somehow have something in
common with one another. Th is process is not just inappropriate
but obscures the specific nature of problems being faced. In The
Identity Myth, David Swift covers the four different kinds of
identity most susceptible to this trend - class, race, sex and age.
He considers how the boundaries of identities are policed and how
diverse versions of the same identity can be deployed to different
ends. Ultimately, it is not that identities are simply more
'complex' than they appear but that there are more important
commonalities. In a powerful call to arms, Swift argues that we
must unite against these identity myths and embrace our differences
to beat inequality.
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