Men in reserve (EPUB) von Juliette Pattinson

Men in reserve provides the first nationwide study of the reserved occupations, bringing together a wide range of sources including new oral histories, autobiographies, archive, visual and film materials.

1. Men in reserve: recovering the civilian man2. Raising an 'industrial army': the policy of reservation in the First and Second World Wars3. 'Making a contribution to the war effort': reactions to reserved status, masculinity and the military4. Grafters not shirkers: reserved men at work5. Bodies on the line: risk, health and manliness6. Outside the factory gates: reserved life on the home front7. Forgotten: the missing legacy of Britain's reserved occupationsConcluding thoughtsIndex

Men in reserve focuses on working class civilian men who, as a result of working in reserved occupations, were exempt from enlistment in the armed forces. It uses fifty six newly conducted oral history interviews as well as autobiographies, visual sources and existing archived interviews to explore how this group articulated their wartime experiences and how they positioned themselves in relation to the hegemonic discourse of military masculinity. It considers the range of masculine identities circulating amongst civilian male workers during the war and investigates the extent to which reserved workers draw upon these identities when recalling their wartime selves. It argues that the Second World War was capable of challenging civilian masculinities, positioning the civilian man below that of the 'soldier hero' while, simultaneously, reinforcing them by bolstering the capacity to provide and to earn high wages, frequently in risky and dangerous work, all which were key markers of masculinity.

Juliette Pattinson is Reader in Modern History at the University of KentArthur McIvor is Professor in Social History and Director of the Scottish Oral History Centre at the University of StrathclydeLinsey Robb is Senior Lecturer in History at Teesside University