A free-spirited woman: The London diaries of Gladys Langford, 1936-1940, ed.

摘要

Gladys Langford is known as a diarist from quotations used by David Kynaston in Austerity Britain, 1945-51 and the London Record Society is to be commended for bringing her later diaries to wider notice as sources for daily life in the years leading up to the declaration of war in 1939 and during the 'Phoney War' that followed. The editors are likewise to be commended for their treatment of the originals, housed in the Islington Local History Centre at Finsbury Library. Approximately half of the content of the diaries for 1936-1940 is presented, with the selection being made on the basis of the writer's 'detailed descriptions and/or thoughtful reflections'. The editorial apparatus includes identification of the principal people mentioned in the diaries; detailed footnotes giving background information, identifying books, plays and films, and references to opinions expressed by Gladys elsewhere; contemporary photographs and maps; and an index.