- Paperback: 480 pages
- Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd; New Ed edition (29 July 1980)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0006361862
- ISBN-13: 978-0006361862
- Product Dimensions: 17.6 x 10.8 x 3.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 272,653 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details |
More About the Author
Product Description
Synopsis
The English author, pacifist, and feminist offers personal insights into her life, discussing her marriage, family, and development as a writer together with the impact of the Second World War.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Towards the end of this autobiographical account of the years 1925 to 1950, Vera Brittain took part in a conference in India. Originally arranged in consultation with Gandhi, but sadly not held until after his assassination, the objective had been for 50 internationally prominent pacifists to meet Gandhi to discuss the creation of peace through spiritual power. Gandhi specified that those invited should be those who had been "a hundred per cent reliable". Brittain expands, "He wanted to meet only those war resisters who had stood firm against the basically fascist attempts of their communities to make them conform, and who saw the war against war as something even larger - a fight for the integrity of man's free mind".
Vera Brittain unquestionably qualified. Pacifism in a time of peace may be relatively easy; in time of war it comes at great personal cost. She never wavered, but was at all times hugely concerned for those who suffer as a result of war, the overwhelming majority of whom, on all sides, are blameless with respect to the causes of the war. Testament of Youth: An Autobiographical Study of the Years 1900-1925 (Virago classic non-fiction), covering her experiences before, during and in the aftermath of the First World War, left us in no doubt of the pacifism that she was to carry through the rest of her life, and of the reasoning that led an intelligent and articulate young woman to adopt that stance. Testament of Experience takes that forward through the years of depression, the rise of Nazism, appeasement, the Second World War, and the first years of the Cold War.
Her first ambition was to establish herself as a novelist. She had some success in that field, but after publication of Testament of Youth (originally mistaken by her American publisher as a clever fiction), she was increasingly seen as a writer and speaker on pacifism, often close to, though never a member of, the Society of Friends, or Quakers. She became a sponsor of the Peace Pledge Union, and throughout the Second World War wrote a fortnightly Letter to Peacelovers that maintained a subscription of almost 2000 at the then not insubstantial cost of 3/6d (17.5p) per half year. The Letter was not officially suppressed and she was allowed to mail it abroad, though for most of the war was not herself allowed to travel abroad.
Both before and after the war she travelled extensively in the United States and in continental Europe, and after the war also visited the Caribbean as well as India. All is recorded in Testament of Experience, including her attendance in the press box at an election rally addressed by Hitler and her post-war inspection of the ruins of his Berlin bunker. There are vignettes of a great many statesmen, politicians, writers, peace-activists and others, descriptions of places and personal experiences, all carefully oriented in the current events of the time. So many and so valuable are the references, it is a great pity the book is not indexed.
This book should not be out of print, and most of the used copies for sale are being offered far too cheaply; buy it while you can.
Vera Brittain unquestionably qualified. Pacifism in a time of peace may be relatively easy; in time of war it comes at great personal cost. She never wavered, but was at all times hugely concerned for those who suffer as a result of war, the overwhelming majority of whom, on all sides, are blameless with respect to the causes of the war. Testament of Youth: An Autobiographical Study of the Years 1900-1925 (Virago classic non-fiction), covering her experiences before, during and in the aftermath of the First World War, left us in no doubt of the pacifism that she was to carry through the rest of her life, and of the reasoning that led an intelligent and articulate young woman to adopt that stance. Testament of Experience takes that forward through the years of depression, the rise of Nazism, appeasement, the Second World War, and the first years of the Cold War.
Her first ambition was to establish herself as a novelist. She had some success in that field, but after publication of Testament of Youth (originally mistaken by her American publisher as a clever fiction), she was increasingly seen as a writer and speaker on pacifism, often close to, though never a member of, the Society of Friends, or Quakers. She became a sponsor of the Peace Pledge Union, and throughout the Second World War wrote a fortnightly Letter to Peacelovers that maintained a subscription of almost 2000 at the then not insubstantial cost of 3/6d (17.5p) per half year. The Letter was not officially suppressed and she was allowed to mail it abroad, though for most of the war was not herself allowed to travel abroad.
Both before and after the war she travelled extensively in the United States and in continental Europe, and after the war also visited the Caribbean as well as India. All is recorded in Testament of Experience, including her attendance in the press box at an election rally addressed by Hitler and her post-war inspection of the ruins of his Berlin bunker. There are vignettes of a great many statesmen, politicians, writers, peace-activists and others, descriptions of places and personal experiences, all carefully oriented in the current events of the time. So many and so valuable are the references, it is a great pity the book is not indexed.
This book should not be out of print, and most of the used copies for sale are being offered far too cheaply; buy it while you can.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This book gives me a clear picture of both the author's personal life and of the times she lived through. Well worth reading.
Format:Paperback
Excelent reading, can not put it down.
This is a follow up to Testament to Youth, also read and Testament to Friendship waiting to read.
This is a follow up to Testament to Youth, also read and Testament to Friendship waiting to read.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
