Reality television has demonstrated that it is no longer necessary to possess a distinguishing talent in order to enjoy celebrity status. Critics might argue that Simon Garfield has worked similar wonders for the diarist’s art. Where once we were treated to the inner demons of generals and statesmen, Garfield touts the daily musings of ordinary folk doing nothing much.
For We Are at War, he has unearthed the diaries of five individuals who originally submitted their entries to the Mass Observation organisation in the first 14 months of the second world war. That clash of empires and ideologies has often been described as the ‘People’s War’. Yet, intriguingly, none of the diarists selected by Garfield is actually engaged in the conflict. One of them flogs stationery in Preston. Another is a clerical worker in Glasgow. There is even a resting freelance journalist. So, not exactly key workers.
Far removed from the front line, they discover that the war is happening primarily in the newspapers, on the radio and in fifth-hand gossip.
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