The Long Week End: A Social History of Great Britain, 1918-1939

_The Long Weekend_ is (as the title says) a social history of Great Britain between the two wars. It was originally published in 1941 and was co-authored (as is often forgotten) by Alan Hodge. The book isn't written using a strictly structured or academic style (at least not one clear to this reader) but moves smoothly and in a conversational way between subjects and ideas. It takes that conversation from Armistice in 1918 to the declaration of war against Germany in 1939. The chapters cover subjects as diverse as Revolutionary ideas, Amusements, Domestic life, trends in art and literature, political life, and the Loch Ness monster. One of the nicer things about this book is the vividness of the detail which Graves and Hodge bring to their subjects. When they write about the night clubs of the 1920s, they bring them to life almost better than the novelists who wrote about the same period. The book is a treasure trove for trivia buffs, armchair historians, or people looking for background color from the period. That said, it's a long book for such a specific period of British history. While I really enjoyed the read I didn't need so much specific information and there were times when I found myself struggling to keep interest. That's not a reflection on the quality of the book, however, more the needs that I brought to it and shouldn't discourage the potential reader.