Britain in the Age of Total War

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Britain in the Age of Total War

1. The caption at the top of this source is very helpful in

determining the usefulness of this source, because it tells us that

this source was written by the publisher of the book, "Waiting for the

All Clear", on the inside cover. Usually, this part of the book is

used for advertising and commercial purposes, and so is not very

useful in finding out about the response of the British people to the

effects of the Blitz. This is because it contains no historical fact

and is totally comprised of opinion. It makes suggestions that cannot

be proven, like "out of terror and tragedy came courage". It tells us

of courage, but courage cannot be measured, or recorded as data on

paper, so it is virtually impossible for a publisher, writing fifty

years after the event, to know for sure that the British people felt

courage.

The caption also tells us that this book was published to "celebrate

the fiftieth anniversary of the Blitz" and this is exactly what this

source does. It is nostalgic, looking back at the Blitz and

remembering the positive points of it. The only problem is, there does

not seem to be any negative issues here, and portrays the Blitz as a

time of happiness and unity, but does not mention anything else. This

is why this source is not very useful, because it does not portray an

accurate picture of the effects of the Blitz on the British people, as

it does not provide a full account of it.

What this source does suggest, is that there was a section of society

that were more courageous than some of their counterparts, in other

words, it suggests that the British people showed more courage than

the people of other countries, but even this does not have any proof

to back it up.

So we can conclude that we cannot learn a great deal from this source

about the response of the British people to the Blitz, because it

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