Whistling in the dark
Subtitle: memory and culture in wartime London
By: Jean R. Freedman.
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
Published: 1999
Place of publication: Lexington
Language: eng
Number of pages: 230
Subjects: World War, 1939-1945 -- England -- London.; World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, British.; London (England) -- History -- 1800-1950.
Description: Few historical images are more powerful than those of wartime London. Having survived a constant barrage of German bombs, the city is remembered as an island of courage and defiance. These wartime images are still in use today to support a wide variety of political viewpoints. But how well do such descriptions match the memories of those who survived the blitz?

Jean Freedman interviewed more than fifty people who remember London during the war, focusing on under-represented groups, including women, Jews, and working-class citizens. In addition she examined original propaganda, secret government documents, wartime diaries, and postwar memoirs.

By exploring the differences between wartime documentation and postwar memory, oral and written artifacts, and the voices of the powerful and the obscure, Freedman illuminates the complex interactions between myth and history. She concludes that there are as many interpretations of what really happened during Britain's "finest hour" as there are people who remember it.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [205]-221) and index.