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Juliet Gardiner

The Thirties: An Intimate History Paperback – January 1, 2011

by Juliet Gardiner (Author)

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As 'Wartime' did for the 1940s, this book will grasp the broad spectrum of events in the 1930s in the words of contemporary witnesses drawn from metropolitan and provincial letters and diaries, newspapers, periodicals, books and the range of rich material available in the British Library. J.B. Priestley famously described the 'three Englands' he saw in the 1930s: Old England, nineteenth-century England and the new, post-war England. Thirties Britain was, indeed, a land of contrasts, at once a nation rendered hopeless by the Depression, unemployment and international tensions, yet also a place of complacent suburban home-owners with a baby Austin in every garage. Now Juliet Gardiner, acclaimed author of the award-winning Wartime, provides a fresh perspective on that restless, uncertain, ambitious decade, bringing the complex experience of thirties Britain alive through newspapers, magazines, memoirs, letters and diaries. Gardiner captures the essence of a people part-mesmerised by 'modernism' in architecture, art and the proliferation of 'dream palaces', by the cult of fitness and fresh air, the obsession with speed, the growth and regimentation of leisure, the democratisation of the countryside, the celebration of elegance, glamour and sensation. Yet, at the same time, this was a nation imbued with a pervasive awareness of loss -- of Britain's influence in the world, of accepted political, social and cultural signposts, and finally of peace itself.

Print length

853 pages
Language

English
Publisher

HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date

January 1, 2011
Dimensions

2.3 x 5 x 7.7 inches
ISBN-10

0007314531
ISBN-13

978-0007314539
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Publisher ‏ : ‎ HarperCollins Publishers (January 1, 2011)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 853 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0007314531
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0007314539
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.34 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 2.3 x 5 x 7.7 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #759,770 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #74,869 in History (Books)

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57 ratings

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4.4 out of 5

57 global ratings

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3 star		9%
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Language5

Fascinating but way too much detail

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 16, 2022

The 1930s is a fascinating, at times scary, and very important time in world history.

The good and the bad of this book: if you want to take an in-depth look at the decade in Britain, definitely read this book. But be ready for a slog. At times I felt as if I were living the decade minute-by-minute. Page upon page on every popular movie, every popular actor/actress and several pages on gas-mask fitting just before the beginning of World War II.

The book definitely needs a dramatic and brutal editor to cut out the detail. For it is very well-researched and at times fascinating. But at over 700 pages, wow. (less)

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Peter Sutton

Great subject, wonderful images in the photos

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 10, 2014

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Great subject, wonderful images in the photos, but poorly written. Long sentences full of parenthetic pieces, mostly very dull prose, tone didactic where it should be inclusive of the reader, plus over-emphasis on grinding statistics about industrial matters of little interest to many readers. Not enough feeling of the 30s Zeitgeist, and indeed not enough feeling full stop. Not a book of flair, which is what the subject deserved. A handy resource, though, via the index. Sorry.

5 people found this helpful

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constable59

A massive compendium

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on July 21, 2018

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A remarkable compendium of facts about the social history of the 1930s tied together in a professional manner to provide a continuous story. Towards the end there is a slight feeling of adding bits and pieces information not used earlier. It is a very long read and on reflection I would recommend readers to dip in and out as each chapter tends to deal with different themes in a stand alone manner. An extensive list of sources is provided but there are no footnotes or end notes to ties specific facts to exact sources. This is frustrating as the question 'how do we know that' arises frequently. However, this is understandable as a general audience would find an overload of footnotes would reduce readability. The text also provides an incentive to search out some less well known books and films from the 1930s

One person found this helpful

BOOK ADDICT

A MOMENTOUS DECADE

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on May 22, 2012

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I really enjoyed this book.It is social hiostory written in an academic,but readable style.The aspect which struck me,and supports the quotation that'history repeats itself'was the frighteningly similar scenario that the Thirties have withthe present financial,economical and social landscape.The hostil;ity over immigration, and the fears for 'our'jobs, the woolly political thinking over what is the best course of action,the curtailment and ceasation of benefits,and generally to the muddled and many-sided view of what the economic consequences of particular actions will be,the only new problem is the question of the Euro,though substitute for the emergence of a powerful and armed Germany, and the stage is set for total conflict.
This book is important reading for all interested in the development of thought and responses in thwe United Kingdom. Some of the comments beggar belief that they were ever made-the role of women, and what they were fit for, the pro motor lobby that classed pedestrians as a necessary evil,but certainly legislation should not be designed to protect them.One has to remember that the incidents that are written about only occured some eighty years ago-a person's life span-Technology has made great strides, but as the British human race made such great strides in that period-I wonder.
An excellent and well researched book that isreadable to the laymam, but includes historical significance for the student of history.

2 people found this helpful

S Riaz

The Thirties

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on February 15, 2011

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After the Roaring Twenties, the Thirties is often considered a depressing (it has even been called a morbid) decade. It has the spectre of unemployment, hunger marches and slum housing hanging over it; war approaching and the remains of an aristocracy which was clinging to a lifestyle that would change forever after WWII. Juliet Gardiner takes on the daunting task of giving an intimate history of this decade and she does so beautifully. She does not shy away from the unpleasant facts of poverty and a massive class divide, but the book is certainly not depressing. She paints a picture of a country with all its habits, problems and pleasures and she does so brilliantly, linking everything to both the previous decade and the approaching war. As well as all the huge issues - politics, the war in Spain and unemployment - the book examines leisure, the growing cinema, home ownership and growing car ownership (the part about the amount of people killed in car accidents, where an incredulous MP stands up and asks what all the fuss is about, is worth buying the book for alone - totally amazing and I had no idea what a debt we all owe Hore Belisha for tackling the problem with such zeal). This is a wonderful, entertaining and absorbing read. I read the kindle edition and it was edited beautifully. Excellent read and I am looking forward to reading her book on The Blitz, which I have since downloaded.

3 people found this helpful

Terentius Varro

Detailed narrative always fascinating

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on June 12, 2015

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This is an amazing book. The wealth of information provided, the range of topics covered, the detail in the treatment of so many themes, all integrated and effortlessly narrated. I especially like the way that every person mentioned (and there are hundreds or perhaps thousands) receives a brief characterisation that illuminates and situates that particular person. The broad but detailed sketches of crucial topics such as the Spanish Civil War or the Abdication manage to untangle complex circumstances in a convincing way. A very welcome aspect of the narrative line is the abundant use of personal (often unpublished) material in the form of memoirs, diaries and letters. I read the book at breakfast over a good number of weeks, always looking forward to the next episode. I am quite sad that I have now finished it . . .

Stuey

An impressive look at an eventful decade

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on September 25, 2011

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This is a book that I had wanted to read since it was first published in hardback but, with other priorities interfering, I only got round to buying a copy in paperback a couple of weeks ago. The small plus is that I saved myself a `few bob'. The much greater minus comes from being denied until now the enjoyment of a well-written and impressively researched work, illustrating a decade that we routinely recognise as the time of the Jarrow hunger march; the abdication; appeasement; Munich and, during its closing months, the declaration of war against Germany. Of course, all these events are covered in some detail, but Ms Gardiner gives us so much more too.
The book begins in hauntingly sad vein with the Glen cinema disaster in Paisley that claimed the lives of seventy-one children on the last day of 1929. It was a horrible start to the new decade for the town where the effects of the depression were being severely felt, just as they were in other parts of West Scotland, Wales and various industrial locations in England. Ms Gardiner goes on to detail the indignities suffered by the increasingly large numbers of unemployed and also how those in work found themselves subject to the constraints of a low-wage economy. As the book progresses the reader may well find it hard to stem a rising sense of disbelief at the callous decisions made by some of those in power - at parliamentary and local level - when dealing with increasing numbers of the poor. The sheer poverty involved and the ungenerous attitude of the state toward giving financial relief is thoroughly reported but one personal illustration stuck in my mind: A new mother in an unemployed household stated that when their baby was born she and her husband borrowed a mattress from neighbours and spread newspapers on it. She used to feed the baby on a bottle of warm water and put the baby to bed in a drawer. Nappies were made from newspaper. But, when she appeared before the Public Assistance Committee and was asked if the baby was being breast fed, she made the mistake of saying yes. As a result, the committee promptly cut a proportion of the allowance the couple received for their child. - Such small snippets of first-hand testimony can say more than an entire chapter. I expect everyone who reads this book will find some comment or recollection that similarly stays with them.
Throughout, the book illustrates events by using the various voices of individuals who experienced life during the decade, from the poorest upwards through the social scale. The hunger marches are well covered, (I had no idea of how many marches there were - the media these days tend only to mention the Jarrow march), and there is a fascinating look at those lucky enough to be able to leave the slums and afford the rent to live on some of the new council housing estates being built at the time. - Unfortunately, there were also many who could not afford the move. In addition, it was interesting to read of the efforts made by builders and building societies to persuade families, many just a fraction better-off financially, that they could achieve the dream of owner-occupation. For some the dream had an unhappy ending, but it was this aspiration to home ownership that gave birth to many of the suburbs with which we are now so familiar.
I have given here only a passing glimpse of what can be found in the book. (The paperback version runs to 766 pages, excluding photographs, bibliography and index).The full list of subjects covered is astounding. There is an impressive section on the British people's reaction to - and in many cases action in - the Spanish Civil War. Many regarded affairs in Spain as foreshadowing the `big one' they knew, in their heart of hearts, would be coming one day. Indeed, as I have already mentioned, all the major events of the decade are here. But what I found perhaps more interesting were the sections dealing with the more commonplace and personal occurrences in people's lives.
Leisure pursuits; the fight for paid holidays; the annual seaside vacation with the guesthouse landlady; the holiday camp; the pub - all have their place here. As does the growth of the' Health and Fitness' mentality and the popularity of the lido. Cinema attendance and radio listening habits are examined and much more. In short, you think of it and the odds are that it is covered to a greater or lesser extent somewhere in this book.
I was left with the impression that people in general during the thirties - some as a result of their own harsh lives, others through hearing with foreboding what was happening in Europe - were much more politically aware than we as a nation are today. What surprised me though was to see the parallels, albeit in diluted form, of those times with today. Here we are teetering on the brink of another depression; politicians as a group are about as ineffectual as ever and, yet again, the great British public has to bear the burden of the desperate attempt to nurture health back into our economy.
Ms Gardiner has marshalled the vast amount of source material used for the `The Thirties' to great effect, resulting in a well organised series of chapters producing an easy to read book that deserves recognition as the definitive popular account of the decade

8 people found this helpful

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