Contrary to the Hollywood-style romanticism of popular novels and films, the Second World War was more than courage on the battlefield, plucky defiance and doomed love affairs. Family and civilian life had to go on. In the midst of black-outs, road-blocks and austerity, households had to feed and clothe themselves, to travel, to decorate and furnish their homes. In this meticulously researched and lavishly illustrated account, Mike Brown and Carol Harris draw on contemporary sources including government advice, periodicals and books to provide an authoritative, entertaining account of life in the time of air-raid sirens and rationing.