This is a splendid, well written, and deeply researched study of the British working class during the Second World War. The work is somewhat broader than the subtitle implies because it inevitably involves other classes as well and the general political history of the war years. However, perhaps the subtitle also claims too much: was the British working class actually “remade” or rather, in the almost inevitable British way, did it change quite a bit yet in many ways remain the same? Field asks the central question of how transformative was the war on British society: totally, partially, or not at all? Not surprisingly, he ends with a nuanced and convincing characteristically British answer: elements of all three. Many of the parts of the story have been well known for a long time, but much new material is brought to bear. Field investigates carefully and steers a convincing middle course in assessing the importance and effect of the changes that were taking place as the country coped with the war. Although there were many horrors and errors, ultimately the British did much better than many expected and predicted, perhaps to the world's surprise but not to their own. The country eventually had a war machine that could match and ultimately outperform the Germans.

This is fundamentally and quite rightly a study of class. Some attention is necessarily paid to the middle class, but the main tension is between the working class and its “betters,” the traditional ruling class. The notorious but hastily withdrawn tactless poster from the Ministry of Information exhorted the workers, “them,” to deliver victory to “us,” those in control. In return, the “We” were genuinely concerned for “them.” The first manifestation of this was the vast evacuation scheme. Almost a million and half citizens, mostly children, left cities to avoid the bombs. In the process the better off in the locations where the evacuees went became far more aware of the nature of poverty. Then the blitz itself had to be coped with in the cities. Fortunately, the number of dead and wounded was far fewer than anticipated, but consequently the number of homeless was far greater. Gradually there was a transformation from the patronizing assumptions of official thinking along the lines of the Poor Law to the idea that all citizens had rights and legitimate expectations for what the state should do for them. Not necessarily consciously, those in authority realized they needed the help and the cooperation of the working class. Not only men but also women would need to be called up to serve. The cooperation of the trade unions was essential, and the Labour Party formed part of the coalition government. There was still some labor unrest and strikes, but in general the working class, including its women, provided the power in the factories and in the services for the engine of war.

Although the treatment of conscientious objectors was more enlightened than it had been during the First World War, Field makes it vividly clear that in many ways the army was the most hidebound of the institutions of the state. The creation of an obedient soldier was somehow not quite a British tradition—it makes it more explicable that it was not until the twentieth century that the British introduced conscription. Conceptions of military and civilian justice could be quite different. Much of the most insensitive treatment by the army of its members took place after the war was over in its mishandling of the men anxious to get home, at times resulting in trials for mutiny. Field very effectively deals with the family problems that arose during the war. Tensions and issues, frequently sexual, developed as so many women were active in the work force and so many men were separated from their wives and girlfriends. The state also attempted to improve the situation for the working class in areas that had been previously neglected: more compassionate concern for the elderly and greater attention to culture, including music, books, art, and the cinema. Class far from disappears, but the relation between the classes changed. As A. V. Alexander, a Labour MP and First Lord of the Admiralty, stated: “Our working men and women have responded magnificently to any and every call made upon them. Their reward must be a new Britain” (235). The reward was the Beveridge Report, again in the British tradition, “radical but moderate” (360); it promised assistance to all, although not particularly progressive in its treatment of women, and it projected a system based on contributions from all. Class would not and has not disappeared, but it was hoped that in Britain after the war there would be more of a cooperative relationship between classes than had been true heretofore.

Field provides an excellent discussion of the general election of 1945. He argues convincingly that it was far livelier than some interpretations have it. Polls predicted a Labour victory, but nevertheless many believed that the voters would not actually turn out Churchill, the man who did so much to win the war. He was not trusted, quite rightly, to implement the promised new society. In the election, class played an important role. The working-class voter who in many instances in the past had voted Tory now expressed more class solidarity (and the Communist Party, which had followed a rather dicey path during the war, helped Labour candidates). This is a sober and convincing study, but it nevertheless reinforces A. J. P. Taylor's rather romantic statement of many years ago: “Imperial greatness was on the way out; the welfare state was on the way in. The British empire declined; the condition of the people improved. Few now sang ‘Land of Hope and Glory.’ Few even sang ‘England Arise.’ England had risen all the same” (A. J. P. Taylor, English History, 1914–1945 [Oxford, 1965]. 600). At the very beginning and end of this fine study, Field mentions the comparatively recent television series Foyle's War, which, like his book, is very much a modern take upon the wartime period. There was lots of bad behavior, but ultimately the classes cooperated, and the war came to a successful conclusion. This is an essential text about Britain during the war. One hopes that the increasingly common and disconcerting pricing policy for academic books for which the publishers expect limited sale will not mean that this text, at its $125 price and no paperback announced, will only be read by a few. It is likely only to be in larger libraries, to be owned by those with disposable income, and to be possessed by lucky reviewers.