Maurice Craft grew up in Southeast London during World War 2, personally experiencing the preparations for war, the fierce bombing raids, and the mass evacuation of children. Later, a graduate of LSE, he began as a schoolteacher and became a noted university professor in the UK and overseas, publishing and advising on education and the social environment. He returned to SE London on retirement, and in this book he recalls the anxieties, but also the fun and mischief he and his younger brother enjoyed during those dark war years.
A country at war is very different from one at peace, a range of social changes quickly emerge. Men are conscripted into the armed forces and are replaced by women. The economy is rebalanced towards defence, and towards the production of war materials. Food and all basic commodities are controlled, ...