This book skilfully brings together cutting-edge historical research by leading and emerging researchers in the field to investigate the utilisation of British humour both during the Second World War and its legacy in British popular culture. Linsey Robb and Juliette Pattinson lead a cast of esteemed academics and early career scholars to address a wide variety of situations in which humour was generated and a diverse range of groups for whom it was important. By addressing the overarching topic of humour from a breadth of different perspectives (naval, intelligence, Conscientious Objectors, medical artists) and by adopting an original interpretative framework of home front sites (including the Channel Islands), this books opens up the possibility for a more variegated, richer analysis of Britain during the Second World War. By using the lens of humour to scrutinize the social and cultural history of Britain during the Second World War, it promises to add critical nuance to our understanding of the functioning of British wartime society. The result is a rich addition to existing literature of use to students and scholars studying the cultural history of war.

This edited collection brings together cutting-edge research on British masculinities and male culture, considering the myriad ways British men experienced, understood and remembered their exploits during the Second World War, as active combatants, prisoners and as civilian workers. It examines male identities, roles and representations in the armed forces, with particular focus on the RAF, army, volunteers for dangerous duties and prisoners of war, and on the home front, with case studies of reserved occupations and Bletchley Park, and examines the ways such roles have been remembered in post-war years in memoirs, film and memorials. As such this analysis of previously underexplored male experiences makes a major contribution to the historiography of Britain in the Second World War, as well as to socio-cultural history, cultural studies and gender studies.

Men at Work explores the cultural portrayal of four essential wartime occupations: agriculture, industry, firefighting and the mercantile marine. In analysing a broad spectrum of wartime media (most notably film, radio and visual culture) it establishes a clear hierarchy of masculine roles in British culture during the Second World War.

Men in reserve focuses on working class civilian men who, as a result of working in reserved occupations, were exempt from enlistment in the armed forces. It uses fifty six newly conducted oral history interviews as well as autobiographies, visual sources and existing archived interviews to explore how this group articulated their wartime experiences and how they positioned themselves in relation to the hegemonic discourse of military masculinity. It considers the range of masculine identities circulating amongst civilian male workers during the war and investigates the extent to which reserved workers draw upon these identities when recalling their wartime selves. It argues that the Second World War was capable of challenging civilian masculinities, positioning the civilian man below that of the 'soldier hero' while, simultaneously, reinforcing them by bolstering the capacity to provide and to earn high wages, frequently in risky and dangerous work, all which were key markers of masculinity. -- .

Examines the "home front" war effort from an overall imperial perspective, assessing the contribution of individual imperial territories. There is increasing interest in the "home front" during the Second World War, including issues such as how people coped with rationing, how women worked to contribute to the war effort, and how civilian morale fluctuated over time. Most studies on this subject are confined to Britain, or to a single other colonial territory, neglecting the fact that Britain controlled a large Empire and that there were numerous "home fronts", each of which contributed greatly to the war effort but each in slightly different ways. This book considers "home fronts" from an overall imperial perspective and in a broad array of territories - Australia, India, South Africa, Ceylon, Palestine and Kenya aswell as Britain. It examines many aspects of wartime life - food, communications, bombing, volunteering, internment and more, and discusses important themes including identity, gender, inequality, and the relationship between civilians and the state. Besides case studies outlining the detail of the situation in different territories and in different areas of life, the book assesses "home fronts" across the Empire in a comprehensive way, setting the case studies in their wider context, and placing the subject in, and advancing, the historiography. MARK J. CROWLEY is Associate Professor of History at Wuhan University, China. SANDRA TRUDGEN DAWSON is an Instructor in the Department of History at the University of Maryland. Contributors: NUPUR CHAUDHURI, MARK J. CROWLEY, SANDRA TRUDGEN DAWSON, NADJA DURBACH, ASHLEY JACKSON, RITIKA PRASAD, LINSEY ROBB, SHERENE SEIKALY, JEAN SMITH,ANDREW STEWART, PETER THORSHEIM, CHRISTINE WINTER