Britain, although not the first Mass Observation title, was the one that made its name. Britain was published as Penguin Special and is reported as selling over 100, 000 in ten days. It was published in January 1939, and seventy years on Faber Finds are reissuing it. Observation was to create 'an anthropology of ourselves', to provide a study of everyday lives of ordinary people in Britain. In this book, arranged and written by Tom Harrisson and Charles Madge (two of the founders of Mass Observation) the notorious year of 1938 is anatomized. It was the year of Munich. The first half of the book deals with the unfolding crisis, culminating with Neville Chamberlain waving his scrap of paper, the agreement with Hitler, from No. 10 Downing Street. A Mass Observation observer was there. The Press gave wildly misleading impressions of the turn-out. In fact the crowd was under 5000. As the commentary tartly observes, 'No second division football club could survive on a Chamberlain gate.' A bleakly comic moment is recorded, 'P. M. stretches out his arm for silence. Several in crowd appear to take this as a Fascist salute and stretch forth their arms likewise.' Westhoughton (the chapter is aptly entitled A Slight Case of Totemism) and the Two Minutes' Silence on Armistice Day. With these anthropological spies among us one wonders how statesmen and journalists will ever again dare to speak and write on behalf of ''the people''. For here are ''the people''.
Product Identifiers
Publisher
Faber & Faber
ISBN-13
9780571250318
eBay Product ID (ePID)
107571377
Product Key Features
Author
Mass Observation
Publication Name
Britain
Format
Paperback
Language
English
Subject
History
Publication Year
2009
Type
Textbook
Number of Pages
246 Pages
Dimensions
Item Height
198mm
Item Width
126mm
Item Weight
264g
Additional Product Features
Title_Author
Mass Observation
Series Title
Mass Observation Social Surveys
Country/Region of Manufacture
United Kingdom
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