Providing a social history of London's experiences of war from 1939 to 1945, this book describes the Phoney War, the blackouts, the first evacuations and the horrors of the Blitz, followed in the last days of the war by the terror of the doodlebugs. Through it all, a spirit of defiance united all sections of London society, and the book, based on published sources as well as interviews, letters and diaries, presents a record of a population under siege. Philip Ziegler's other books include bestselling biographies of Lady Diana Cooper and Lord Mountbatten.