Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book discusses the revisionist tradition and explores the fate of British prisoners of war in the Far East and how their families coped with loved ones incarcerated in indescribably horrible circumstances. It examines Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin's speaking tour in Canada in 1927. The book also examines a neglected dimension of Britons incarcerated in prisons and camps during World War II, prisoners of war in the Far East. It explores the suffering, cruelty, ill-treatment, starvation and death in the camps, while in the second she investigates the torment of relatives who too often and too long confronted lack of knowledge of their loved ones' fate and possible deaths. The Conservative Party, however, steadfastly held to the traditional gender roles in which men dominated, while women continued to occupy their subordinate position.