In a country awash with mad rumour, frenzied patriotism and intense personal ang
uish, it became illegal to light a bonfire, fly a kite or buy a round of drinks.
And yet the immense upheaval of the war led to many things we take for granted
today: the vote, passports, vegetable allotments and British Summer Time among t
hem. In this immensely captivating account, Jeremy Paxman tells the entire story
of the war through the experience of those who lived it - nurses, soldiers, pol
iticians, factory-workers, journalists and children - explaining why we fought i
t so willingly, how we endured it so long, and how it transformed us all.
