All Hands to the Harvest - Softcover

Wainwright, Martin

Softcover

ISBN 10: 085265121X ISBN 13: 9780852651216

Publisher: Guardian Books, 2009

Synopsis

The twentieth century saw two world wars and countless other conflicts whose effects on society have been well documented. Here you will find the less familiar story of how these international struggles managed to reach into the quietest corners of the British countryside.

From Battle of Britain vapour trails looping over summer cornfields and affecting local hawks and waterfowl to the lone ringed bird who limped in from invaded Czechoslovakia, diarists note down and discuss the momentous changes wrought by wars on British country life.

- Women and children fetching in the harvest as their menfolk fight in Flanders.

- Italian prisoners of war singing opera in Herefordshire orchards

- Mobilising the Women's Institute to make jam for the war effort

Beautifully written and subtly observed, these rediscovered treasures reveal how for all its soft beauty, Britain's rural landscape has been shaped, in part, by man at war with man.

About this title

About the Author

Martin Wainwright in Northern Editor of the Guardian and a regular broadcaster. He has edited two previous collections of the Guardian Country Diary and is the author of The Guardian Book of April Fool's Day and Morris Minor - the Biography.

From the Back Cover

Twice in the 20th century, the world was engulfed by warfare whose battles and effects on society have been much-chronicled. This is the less familiar story of how struggles between the great European powers reached into the quietest corners of the British countryside.

Beneath Battle of Britain vapour trails looping over summer cornfields, diarists discuss the effect of planes on hawks and waterfowl. A lone ringed bird limps in from vanished Czechoslovakia. Women and children fetch the harvest as their menfolk fight in Flanders. The nation is encouraged

to eat 'Woolton Pie' while Italian prisoners of war sing opera in Herefordshire orchards and Women's Institutes make jam for England.

But what is most striking about these selected diaries - whose subjects range from Stone Age hillforts to the bitterness of the Iraq war - is how they reveal the dramatic change brought by warfare on life in the countryside. They show how, for all its soft beauty, Britain's rural landscape has been shaped in

part, for more than 2000 years, by man at war with man.

Edition details

• Publisher: Guardian Books
• Publication date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 085265121X
• ISBN 13: 9780852651216
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 256