Post-War Childhood (Paperback)
Growing up in the not-so-friendly ‘Baby Boomer’ Years
Imprint: Pen & Sword History
Pages: 188
Illustrations: 20
ISBN: 9781473886018
Published: 3rd April 2017
National Publicity!
As featured by Mail Online - Was it really better in the 'good old days'? Book reveals how life for baby boomers WASN'T so golden - with children 10 times more likely to die on the roads and at risk from TB and polio
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| Other formats available | Price |
|---|---|
| Post-War Childhood ePub (14.4 MB) Add to Basket | £6.99 |
Many British baby boomers are very nostalgic about a supposed golden age; a vanished world when children were generally freer, happier and healthier than they are now. They wandered about all day; only returning home at teatime when they were hungry. Nobody worried about health and safety or 'stranger danger' in those days and no serious harm ever befell children as a result.
In Post-War Childhood, Simon Webb examines the facts and figures behind the myth of children's carefree lives in the post-war years, finding that such things as the freedom to roam the streets and fields came at a terrible price. In 1965, for example, despite there being far fewer cars in Britain, 45 times as many children were knocked down and killed on the roads as now die in this way each year.
Simon Webb presents a 'warts and all' portrait of British childhood in the years following the end of the Second World War. He demonstrates that contrary to popular belief, it was by any measure a far more hazardous and less pleasant time to be a child, than is the case in the twenty-first century.
I was curious to read Post-War Childhood by Simon Webb – Growing Up in the Not-So-Friendly ‘Baby Boomer’ Years* because I can’t say I know a lot abut life in post-war Britain and next year it’s something I’m going to study. Some of the things mentioned in the book are, frankly, shocking. I gave the book 5 stars.
Coffee and Books
Read the full review here
An educational offering seriously slanted against the 'strange myth which has been sedulously propagated over the last few years by baby boomers about the idyllic nature of their childhood.' If you are researching this period of childhood, then I would certainly recommend it to be on your reading list, together with its excellent bibliography.
The Journal of Kent History Issue 86
Simon Webb presents a 'warts and all' portrait of British childhood in the years following the end of the Second World War. He demonstrates that contrary to popular belief, it was by any measure a far from hazardous and less pleasant time to be a child, than in the case of the twenty-first century.
Kent Family History Society Journal Vol. 15 No.4
As featured on.
Mail Online 21/7/17
This is me: I'm a baby-boomer, born in 1946, and totally not responsible for everything that's wrong with the world today. Simon Webb describes a world I grew up in, graphically and accurately - it was a world where everyone knew their place, and proper respect was accorded to those in authority. Fascinating, and just as I remember it!
Books Monthly, May 2017 - reviewed by Paul Norman
As featured on...
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About Simon Webb
Simon Webb is the author of a number of non-fiction books, ranging from academic works on education to popular history. He works as a consultant on the subject of capital punishment to television companies and filmmakers and also writes for various magazines and newspapers; including the Times Educational Supplement, The Daily Telegraph and The Guardian.
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