Becky Brown mines the Mass Observation Archive for wartime experiences of 1939-45 to show how the lives of people now generations away have relevance to our twenty-first century experience. Finally, a book that is proving very therapeutic in these difficult times. Blitz Spirit, compiled by Becky Brown, is a lovingly assembled collage of extracts from Mass Observation diaries written during the Second World War. Full of doubt, fear, anger and rueful comedy, they give the lie to the idea that the Brits maintained a stiff upper lip, but it's immensely consoling to know that our forebears sometimes thought that they were living through the end times but survived to enjoy better and brighter days.