How did the civilian population of Britain experience the psychological and physical realities of the Blitz during the Second World War? Tom Harrisson, a co-founder of the Mass Observation project, utilizes a vast archive of primary source records to construct a candid account of life on the British home front. By prioritizing the unfiltered voices of ordinary citizens over official government narratives, Harrisson argues that the reality of the Blitz was defined as much by administrative failure and individual misery as it was by national resilience.

Historians and scholars recognize this work as a foundational text in the revisionist history of the British home front. Readers frequently note the raw, unvarnished nature of the testimonies, which provide a stark contrast to the patriotic narratives common in earlier accounts.