East End at War and Peace

Michael Russell’s work has captured the real essence of life in the East End of London between 1890 and 1961. Michael has collected together recollections from his own childhood and his family’s oral history in East End at War and Peace, bringing the past to life into one colourful story. Interspersed with the general history, this book is a unique look at the East End of London, from both a personal and a historical perspective. He retells his grandparent’s tales of trench warfare and the 1920s depression and his family fortunes at this time. He talks us through the 1930s, when the family was disturbed by the threat of war as they prepare for laughter and tears in the shelters. He revisits the scene when a V2 rocket plunged to earth near the family home on Cambus Road in 1944. From the VE day celebrations to the nuclear age, from the choking smogs that cover the East End post-war to the age of rock and roll as it infiltrated daily life, Michael’s book offers a glimpse of a life of a true East Ender.