I'm wavering between two and three stars. This was not what I expected, but really it's my mistake since Virginia Nicholson is upfront about the fact that she is primarily interested in social history on a micro level: What did the bohemians eat for lunch? What sort of clothes did they wear? How ...
– And I put my head round the Mess door, and I said to my Commandant, “The war with Germany’s over!” – “Well,” he said, “I thought it must be something like that.” ’On VE-day the ATS, in common with the rest of the country, were off duty. Mary and her friends went down to the pub in Devizes for ‘...
New BroomsMust women give all their time to housework? – How can one copewith housework without modern machinery? – Is an experimentallifestyle compatible with having servants? – What are the advantagesof remaining dirty? – Must one have baths? – Can one admit tothe existence of lavatories? – Mus...
Gallichan had the grace to concede guilt on the part of the British patriarchy ‘. . . who have kept their womenfolk under lock and key . . .’ and therefore had only themselves to blame, but he was also himself deeply patronising, raining blame on the rampancy, defiance and fanaticism of modern wo...