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Our Hidden Lives :The Remarkable Diaries of Postwar Britain
Our Hidden Lives :The Remarkable Diaries of Postwar Britain
paperback
Published:
7 April, 2005
Popular Books by Simon Garfield
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Description
In 1936 anthropologist Tom Harrison, poet and journalist Charles Madge, and documentary filmmaker Humphrey Jennings set up the Mass Observation Project. The idea was simple: ordinary people would record, in diary form, the events of their everyday lives. An estimated one million pages eventually found their way to the archive - and it soon became clear this was more than anyone could digest. Today, the diaries are stored at the University of Sussex, where remarkably most remain unread. In Our Hidden Lives, Simon Garfield has skilfully woven a tapestry of diary entries in the rarely discussed but pivotal period of 1945 to 1948. The result is a moving, intriguing, funny, at times heartbreaking book - unashamedly populist in the spirit of Forgotten Voices or indeed Margaret Forster's Diary of an Ordinary Woman.
'I love these diaries. They have the attraction of being stories, but REAL stories - Better than any novel.' Margaret Forster
'A lovely book. It will appeal to anyone who appreciates the richness and diversity of human experience.' Tony Benn
'Utterly engrossing, better than any kind of reality TV.' Gavin Esler
'Funny, vivid, touching, angry, thoughtful - every page is a delight. This is definitely no. 1 on my present list to give to everyone in the coming year.' Jenny Uglow, author of The Lunar Men
More Details
| Type | Book |
|---|---|
| ISBN13 | 9780091897338 |
| ISBN10 | 0091897335 |
| Number Of Pages | 544 |
| Item Weight | 364 g |
| Product Dimensions | 126 x 198 x 32 mm |
| Publisher / Reseller | Ebury Publishing |
| Format | paperback |
Media Reviews
I haven't read a more engrossing book in years ... a triumph of sympathetic editing * Sunday Times *
These are invaluable records of quiet lives, sometimes despairing, often moving, occasionally bitter, frequently prescient. Occasionally they are just plain funny * Sunday Telegraph *
***** - Diaries that will rewrite our history ... Our Hidden Lives intertwines modest private lives with historic public events and is by turns poignant, shocking, informative and very funny * Mail on Sunday *
A fascinating and moving portrait of ordinary lives in extraordinary times ... I could not put this book down. Over the course of its 500 or so pages, its characters almost became friends. Once I'd finished the book I missed them -- Melanie McGrath * Evening Standard *
A quite magical store of voices from another age * Observer *
Dip in or read cover to cover; five voices reflecting on great events, or single stories ... skilfully edited and intercut ... riveting and often moving book ... it is unrationed delight * Daily Express *
Even in the most depressed post-war years, the Mass Observation diaries of nobodies are profound with the mysteries of the everyday ... This surreal crew are painfully real in their revealed ambiguities ... time has transformed their trivial entries into the sublime; their important days will always resonate * Guardian *
Poignant, compellingly edited ... what really grips are the characters themselves, whose daily entries have a poignancy usually found in only the most engaging of novels * Sunday Times *
There can be no better book than Our Hidden Lives ... Readers of other people's diaries will revel in this delicious book * Observer *
Our Hidden Lives is a marvellous collection of diaries, written by five plain, ordinary - but exceptionally fascinating - individuals for Mass Observation ...These lively, frank records are nostalgic for those who lived through the times, but will be an eye opener for today's affluent and liberated generation of what life was like in that austere and straight-laced period * Evening Standard *
GoodReads Reviews
Author's Bio
Simon Garfield is an award-winning feature writer on The Observer and author of two previous books of oral history, both highly acclaimed. His study of Aids in Britain, The End of Innocence, was awarded the Somerset Maugham Prize, and the bestselling Mauve was described by the Daily Telegraph as 'a book about science which also happens to be a miniature work of art'. His most recent work, The Last Journey of William Huskisson, was a Radio 4 Book of the Week.