Imprint
- W&N
- W&N
- W&N
Scotland, Diaries, letters & journals, Prose: non-fiction, Social & cultural history, Second World War, Socialism & left-of-centre democratic ideologies
A unique wartime diary, written for the mass-observation project, by the doyenne of Scottish literature and celebrated left-wing political thinker Naomi Mitchison.
'As in a good novel, the people, their feelings and reactions are instantly recognisable and as fresh and immediate today as they were then' GUARDIAN
'She writes vividly and movingly' DAILY TELEGRAPH
26th September 1939. I am beginning to wonder whether the point of a place like this may be that it will keep alive certain ideas of freedom which might easily be destroyed in the course of this totalitarian war...
Born in Edinburgh, Naomi Mitchison spent most of the Second World War in the fishing village of Carradale on Kintyre, her home until her death aged 101. Her life was crowded with incident, and her attitudes to events predictably forceful, original and honest.
Throughout the war she kept a diary at the request of the research organisation Mass Observation, in which she recorded both the momentous events of the time, and also how one (albeit extraordinary) family and their friends lived, what they hoped for and what actually happened. Her diaries developed far beyond the confines of a social document.
Written with the passion of a poet combined with the intellectual curiosity of a radial thinker, they provide a unique and valuable document of the period.
Praise for Among You Taking Notes...
-
As in a good novel, the people, their feelings and reactions are instantly recognisable and as fresh and immediate today as they were then
-
- GUARDIAN
-
She writes vividly and movingly
-
- DAILY TELEGRAPH
-
She writes enviably, with the kind of apparently casual precision which, though it can be achieved by effort, far more often comes by grace
-
- TLS
Find a book you’ll love, get our Word Up newsletter
.png?auto=compress&w=150&h=60&fit=crop&fm=jpg)
.png?auto=compress&w=150&h=60&fit=crop&fm=jpg)
Hachette Australia acknowledges and pays our respects to the past, present and future Traditional Owners and Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuation of cultural, spiritual and educational practices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Our head office is located on the lands of the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation.
