National Service is a serious - if often very entertaining - attempt to get to grips with an extraordinary institution, which now seems as remote as the British Empire itself. With great sympathy and curiosity, Vinen unpicks the myths of the two 'gap years', which all British men who came of age between 1945 and the early 1960s had to fill with National Service. 'The definitive history of the two million young men conscripted into the British Army from the end of the Second World War to the early 1960s. From the routines of the parade ground to the horrors of Korea, Vinen restores national service to life with a searching eye for detail and impressive human sympathy.' Dominic Sandbrook, Sunday Times, Books of the Year'Chock-a-block with important themes, provocative ideas, arresting stories, heartbreak and good jokes . . . may prove to be the most original social history book of the year.' Richard Davenport-Hines, Guardian'Written with compassion and insight, Vinen's book brilliantly recreates the atmosphere of postwar Britain.' Tony Barber, Financial Times, Books of the Year'An excellent new survey . . . will surely be the definitive account of peacetime conscription.' Alan Allport, Literary Review'Even readers with personal memories of national service will learn a lot.' John Carey, Sunday Times