Scottish Society in the Second World War: Tradition, Tension, Transformation

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Michelle Moffat (Historian and Research Associate, Manchester Metropolitan University)

Scottish Society in the Second World War

Tradition, Tension, Transformation

Michelle Moffat (Historian and Research Associate, Manchester Metropolitan University)

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English

Edinburgh University Press
08 December 2025

British & Irish history; Social & cultural history; National liberation & independence, post-colonialism; Second World War

Surprisingly little is known about Scottish experiences of the Second World War. Scottish Society in the Second World War addresses this oversight by providing a pioneering account of society and culture in wartime Scotland. While significantly illuminating a pivotal episode in Scottish history, this book also charts the uncertainties that permeated Scottish society at that time: relating to nationhood, to cultural identity, to Scotland's place within the Union, and towards the country's future. Using recently discovered archives, this text examines key aspects of wartime life, including work, leisure, morale, and religion. It also explores the underlying tension between conformity and resistance, and the ways that social fissures shaped Scottish responses to war. Further, in taking a national approach to the British home front, it draws out areas of cultural difference between Scotland and established scholarship on other nations and regions of Britain.

By: Michelle Moffat (Historian and Research Associate Manchester Metropolitan University)
Imprint: Edinburgh University Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 156mm,
ISBN: 9781399522540
ISBN 10: 139952254X
Pages: 296
Publication Date: 08 December 2025
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Dr Michelle Moffat is a historian of war and society, and a research associate at Manchester Metropolitan University. Her previous publications include ‘Scotland’s fighting fields’: the mobilisation of workers in rural Scotland during the Second World War, Rural History, 33:2 (2022): 231-249; and with Alison Loveridge, Rebecca Duell and Julie Abbari, ‘Night Landscapes: A Challenge to World Heritage Protocols’, Landscape Review, 15:1 (2014): 64-75. Michelle completed her doctoral studies at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand and her award-winning doctorate examined Scottish life and society during the Second World War. She is currently researching dissent and discontent in wartime Britain. This is her first monograph.

Reviews for Scottish Society in the Second World War: Tradition, Tension, Transformation

A path-breaking and thorough study of Scotland during World War 2 which is a major contribution to twentieth-century Scottish history and to the documentation of Britain's experience at war. -- Sir Thomas Martin Devine, University of Edinburgh