All Quiet in the Westen Suburbs
458 pages, fully indexed, price £14.99

Labour historian, John Grigg, has spent some years reading the Chiswick Times and the Acton Gazette in Hounslow’s Local Studies Library. His careful study has brought to light fascinating material, for example, on local elections and the campaign for women’s suffrage in the 1890s and early 1900s. This book arose from the wealth of material about the First World War which appeared after 1914. John was astonished to find servicemen’s letters published in these newspapers. He wondered how much might have been censored, since some only talk about the weather, but there are nevertheless descriptions of the horrors of war and life in the trenches.

John Grigg provides an introductory chapter on the impact of the beginning of the War on our suburbs and short pieces on prisoners of war and peace celebrations. The richness of the book comes from the sequence of the letters presented chronologically but within groups relating, for example, to the Western Front year by year, and to specific locations such as India, Gallipoli, Mesopotamia and Russia. This is a remarkable collection of personal testimony and sometimes very moving.

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