An interesting research study, but for the general reader it is very intense. Perhaps a sampling of comments rather than day by day? Or alternatively, follow onediarist throughout the years?
I found I couldn't read it in its entirety, but did my own sampling.

In Blitz Spirit, Becky Brown has assembled a series of extracts from the Mass Observation project, which tasked ordinary people with writing dairies immediately prior to and during the war years. It’s worth noting that Brown’s bibliography at the end shows there’s a few books that do a similar thing from the same source, some focusing on one diarist while others focus on different aspects – Brown, however, has gone for more of an overview, collecting these extracts together in chronological order, snapshotting the general mood of a nation during unprecedented times.

It’s very easy to draw parallels with these extracts with the covid lockdowns, and the general state of emergency that started in late 2019/2020. Talks of rationing and the way some ‘pay’ their way out of it, complaints about what the government is allowing to be sold, and among this the story of helping others, a real sense of community and an ‘we’re all in this together’ mood. The extracts are short, maybe a couple of paragraphs at most, but it’s enough for the timeline and a general sense, rather than going too in-depth. Another quite handy aspect of the book is the context – Brown breaks the extracts up into six month blocks, providing context at the start of each chapter as to what was happening at the time and what the diarists are reacting to.


It’s a really great insight into the mood of the nation, and it’s hard not to feel connected to these people and their various circumstances, to laugh with them at times at humorous moments and emphasise with their darker ones. It makes the social history of World War II really accessible, too. It’s a really intriguing book, and definitely hope I can come across more of the Mass Observation work in the future.

Becky Brown is described as an anthologist. To be faced with over a million pages of entries from the Mass-Observation Archive, which began amassing diary entries from volunteers in 1937 and ran throughout the Second World War and beyond, must have been both daunting and exhilarating. The result of her study of this unique resource is Blitz Spirit, an account of the war through the words of ordinary people - civilians.
Tom Harrison, one of the founders of the project and an ornithologist amongst other things, saw it as the study of Britons ‘as if they were birds’. In making her selections, Brown has adopted the same approach: “I have delighted in spotting the familiar”.

As a consequence, the reader is offered a view of civilian life in the UK through the six years of war which does not necessarily chime with what was written in the papers or with what we see in films and may have come to assume is the truth.

Reading these entries, from a variety of diarists across the country and from all walks of life, is fascinating in itself. But Blitz Spirit throws up more than a reflection of life seventy years ago. The pandemic we have lived through this past year has been described as the worst crisis since the war and in the experiences of those who wrote then, we see parallels with what we are experiencing now.

The intention of the Mass-Observation project was ‘to tell a truer, fuller version of events than was available in the newspapers or recorded in the history books’. In putting together this book, Becky Brown has held to that principle as well as illustrating the universals in human experience. So much that people described then, echoes through the decades in our experiences now.

Overall I found this an uplifting read. I would have preferred to connect more with the diarists, who are anonymised as they were in the MO project although several are then named in ‘Further Reading’. I’ve always been attracted to diaries and I’ve known of the Mass-Observation Archive for some time. Having read this book and with my interest piqued, I shall be looking to read more.

I received a copy of the book from Netgalley to review and. Thank you so much for the opportunity.
A fascinating and well curated collection of stories.
A good read.

Not what I expected, but definitely interesting! Was disappointed in the shortness of some entries, but I suppose I can't criticise archival material! Brown writes clearly and unintimidating chapter heads that set out events in a non-academic sense, truly making this more accessible for anyone interested and not exclusive to academics.

As a historian, I found this utterly absorbing - so fascinating! First-hand accounts of momentous periods in our past are always so treasurable. But it would be a real treat for anybody interested in social history. So enlightening.

The author has clearly done a lot of careful research, combing through the many diarists who submitted their ideas, thoughts and experiences to make the Mass Observation Project during the Second World War. From this she has compiled a chronological account of the War, as seen by the men, women and occasionally children on the Home Front. The result is not quite what the rosy glasses of time have led us to expect.

People were human; they were greedy, prejudiced, failed to follow Government instructions and generally griped about prices, rationing, bombing etc - and heaven knows, they had enough to be unhappy about at this difficult time.

The snippets made me smile, cry and laugh. Such stoicism, such resilience. No wonder that generation grew up tough and determined. I would have liked to know the age and sex of the contributors (although one could often guess the latter by the occupation).

I really enjoyed reading these insights; and could apply a lot of the difficulties to today's experiences of lockdown, although we do always have enough to eat.

Thank you to NetGalley and Head of Zeus for allowing me access to the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

As a participant in the Mass Observation project I am always drawn to volumes of social history that draw on this fascinating reserve and this book is a great addition to the oeuvre. As we move further away in time from the Blitz, and there are fewer and fewer survivors to listen to these books are more important than ever.

This book however wasn't so easy to read in ebook format and it is one that will do much better as a physical edition where you can dip in and out or skip diarists that you don't gel with.

A compelling collection of diary entries from the Mass Observation Project, which lay bare the privations, sacrifices but also the indomitable spirit of human beings when faced with adversity and the admirable ability to draw on reserves of inner strength. There are so many parallels a reader can draw between the prosaic experiences during the Second World War and the coronavirus pandemic of 2020. I think this is a necessary read and also will form a really interesting piece of supplementary reading for students studying history and English Literature. The minutiae of daily life on the Home Front was truly fascinating and offers an invaluable insight into what life was like for ordinary people. Thank you to Netgalley for allowing me to read a review copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.

A fascinating insight into the lives of every day people during the Second World War. I particularly enjoyed reading about the opinions and thoughts of these diarists. Written as part of the Mass Observation work, these extracts open a window into a different time and experience. Whilst much has been written about the history of this era, the battles and victories, these diaries depict the daily struggles of the British people on the Home Front- their thoughts, hopes and experiences.

Very much enjoyed this compilation of diary entries from the Mass Observation Project throughout WW2. It brought me a strange comfort living under lockdown and through the pandemic. As many others have said, while the circumstances aren’t comparable, there are some parallels around public feeling towards the loss of freedom, trust in the government, shortages, and what life might look like after global event. I loved Brown’s words about reading these diary entries as a way of seeing these ordinary people and acknowledging that they lived. Recommended.

Really enjoyed this book. I'd never heard of the Mass Observation project before, and I'm interested in World War II, so this made for a very intriguing read.
Brown was correct in that many attitudes we see at the moment during the pandemic are very similar to attitudes during war and at times it even made for amusing reading.
Good compilation of diary entries with each chapter interspersed with commentary from the author on the overall war situation at that time.

Wow so many parallels between modern times living through a pandemic and living through WWII. Curtailing of freedom, doubting about government policies, so much change and turmoil. I found this book immensely interesting both from this perspective and from the perspective of it being contemporary reports from a whole range of people. I loved tracking the individual voices as the war progressed and views changed and evolved. A wonderful piece of social history.

How refreshing to see a balanced people's view of the Home Front in WWII. I have read other MO diaries, but this is the best collection yet. 'Blitz Spirit' shows us the gossiping and the griping, the horrors and the heroes, the rights and wrongs of their thoughts of the future. It is fascinating to see ordinary lives, to see what information reached people at the time and their often unexpected reactions. This books shows what wartime spirit really was like.

For today’s reader, who is living through our biggest social dislocation since the Second World War and witnessing a crisis of unprecedented proportions, Blitz Spirit is a book written to gently invite comparison and provoke questions about our place in history. Becky Brown has selected extracts from the Mass Observation Archives, which specialises in material about everyday life in Britain, to anthologise the voices of everyday people as they deal individually and collectively with the crisis of the Second World War 1939-45. The diarists themselves have been selected from every level of society – from warehousemen to widows, soldiers to farmhands, WRENs to architects – and have been chosen to show how the lives of people now generations away have relevance to our twenty-first-century experience - living amidst a global pandemic.

In Blitz Spirit, each chapter showcases the "most evocative" diary entries from Mass Observation’s archive, primarily using previously uncollected writings. The extracts have been selected to both uplift and to ground; to remind readers that nothing is new, that everything can be weathered and perhaps even made better. After all, World War II saw the birth of the NHS. This is a fascinating and eminently readable book and a source of comfort to us all in the times in which we are currently living. The documenting of everyday people just going about their lives under the fog of war is inspirational and although the threat in our midst is both silent and invisible, we can certainly draw solace, wisdom and perspective over our current situation from generations past.

This feels very much like a book we need. I’ve always admired the way Mass Observation allowed ordinary people to be seen and heard. This book enables us to share not only their fear but also their stoicism—and even their sense of humour. So promoting faith in our future and courage in our convictions, Blitz Spirit challenges us to show the stiff upper lip and fighting spirit we Brits are renowned for the world over. Many thanks to Hodder & Stoughton for an ARC.

Sunday 3 September 1939 , Britain declares war on Germany. The book is written in a series of extracts of diarist's entries from August 1939 to 1945 obtained from Mass Observation Archive (MO), a repository of ordinary people's diaries written for the most part during the Second World War. The entries contain people's thoughts, feelings, anger, hopes and fears for the the future during this period. The author, Becky Brown, has given the entries anonymity and identifies the diarist's by their 4-digit Mass Observation number, their gender, occupation and location. As you continue reading, you begin to recognise diarist's numbers and entries. I found the entries could get repetitive but we do need to know how people felt during this period of history. This book is for readers who enjoy facts & figures and things relating to the second world war.

I give a 3 star rating and would purchase this book for a friend who enjoys this genre.

I WANT TO THANK NETGALLEY FOR THE OPPORTUNITY OF READING AN ADVANCED COPY OF THIS BOOK

In Blitz Spirit, Becky Brown presents a collection of entries from the diaries ordinary British people sent in to Mass-Observation during the Second World War. While she has chosen which submissions to include, and starts each chapter with a description of what was happening at the stage of the war in question and some light commentary on the accounts, for the most part she lets the observers themselves do the talking.

Right from the start, this book explodes national myths about patriotism, bravery, stoicism, and pulling together during this period. We hear from people who don’t want a war, don’t like Winston Churchill, are scared of losing loved ones or being bombed or invaded, complain about shortages, and disapprove of acquaintances they feel are acting selfishly.

In the earlier parts of the war, when victory is far from assured, tension, anxiety and scepticism are particularly high. Later on, when there are more grounds for optimism, people are tired, fed up of instability and privations, and worried about their post-war prospects. As Colin Grant’s Homecoming also shows, how we think and talk about something when it’s happening can be very different to how we regard and present it later on, when we know how things turned out.

I was particularly struck by the parallels between people’s experiences in World War II and their experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic today. Mass-Observers talk about conspiracy theories and rumours that are in circulation. They contemplate the choice between ignoring all but the main headlines, or being exhausted by the constant developments, as spun by newspapers with their own agendas. They lose morale when the war goes on for longer than they anticipated, and are disappointed to find the end of the war doesn’t mean an immediate return to prosperity and normality. Some have found fulfilment in their war work and therefore have mixed feelings about the prospect of going back to their old lives (not unlike Winnie in Lissa Evans’ V for Victory).

Some diarists describe people they know who don’t take the rules seriously enough, for example, by travelling unnecessarily and continuing to take seaside holidays, refusing to ‘dig for victory’ because they didn’t want to ruin their lawns, and making as few changes as possible to their pre-war lifestyles. Others complain about officious acquaintances who gleefully report relatively minor infractions. A number observe that even under rationing, the rich live far more comfortably than the poor, and find it disgraceful that invalided soldiers don’t receive financial assistance from the government and are instead forced to rely on charity. While there are some heartwarming accounts of neighbours and strangers assisting one another, the diarists nonetheless make it clear that the country is not ‘all in it together’!

More generally, I enjoyed the diarists’ accounts of everyday life: descriptions of what they got up to on particular days; interesting (and sometimes funny) conversations they overheard while out and about; their opinions on music and programmes they heard on the wireless. Shopping and food are big themes, with lots of observers recording their experiences of trying to get particular items from unscrupulous shopkeepers in a seller’s market, documenting their attempts to cook with what they could get hold of, lamenting foods they miss, and sharing their excitement when certain foods reappear.

Blitz Spirit provides an interesting insight into life during World War II and much-needed correctives to national myths.

This is such an interesting read; it shows the realities of war for those on the home front with the removal of any rose-tinted spectacles!

During the second world war, a cross-section of the British people kept diaries of how it affected them personally - their thoughts and opinions as part of what was referred to as Mass Observation. Now author Becky Brown has accessed these, taking excerpts from many different diaries and creating this mesmerising book.

I don't often read non-fiction but I have a real interest in domestic fiction during WWII so this one really appealed to me. The ideal which is trotted out publicly is that 'we were all in it together' - but were we? Did rationing ensure that the poor got equal food to the more well-off? How did the woman in the street cope with the daily hardships foisted upon her? These are personal thoughts of many members of the public and it's full of revelations. Organised chronologically, these comments take us right through from just before war was declared to just after peace was announced. Gripping reading, and it's certainly taken the shine off a lot of the propaganda for me. Informative, meaningful, and one which kept me engrossed until the final page. Recommended to everyone who is fascinated by WWII, and well worth four stars.

My thanks to the publisher for my copy via NetGalley; this is - as always - my honest, original and unbiased review.

This is a fascinating account of peoples everyday lives and thoughts during the Second World War in the UK.

Presented as extracts from various people's diary entries as part of the Mass Observation Social Research Organisation, it gives an insight into what people thought and how they acted during this horrific time.

I found it to be a very interesting read and it is in a format that can be picked up and put down rather than read in the entirety at once. It would also be an interesting addition to the school curriculum.

A fascinating look at voices from the past resonates down the years,
In the face of the current Coronavirus crisis, we're all being urged to show Blitz spirit! But did our parents and grandparents really embrace the horrors of the wartime years with the “grin-and-bear-it” attitude we imagine? This new collection of diary extracts from the Mass Observations project begun in 1937 gives us a glimpse into the day-today life and attitudes of some of the 500 volunteer group around the UK who kept diaries at the time. These extracts from 1939-45 show ordinary people’s response to extraordinary times, and how reassuring it is to discover that, facing a national crisis, they react just like us! Young people bemoan their loss of freedom and fun, housewives complain about shortages, the government are classed as "stupid bunglers", and neighbours "snitch" on neighbours. Sounds familiar! And yet, the diaries do invoke the Blitz Spirit - on the whole, people made the most of horrible circumstances and accepted privation and peril with humour and good grace. A privilege to read, and definitely one for the Christmas wish-list!