Journalists often claim that they write the first draft of history, but few historians examine the press in detail when preparing later drafts. This book demonstrates the value of popular newspapers as a historical source by using them to explore the attitudes and identities of inter-war Britain, and in particular the reshaping of femininity and masculinity. It provides a fresh insight into a period of great significance in the making of twentieth century gender identities, when women and men were coming to terms with the upheavals of the Great War, the arrival of democracy, and rapid social...

Family Newspapers? provides the first detailed historical study of modern popular press coverage of sex and private life, from the start of the mass newspaper reading boom in 1918 to the triumph of the Sun's sexualized journalism in 1978, when circulation overtook that of its rival, the Daily Mirror.
In this period, newspapers were at the heart of British popular culture, and Fleet Street's preoccupation with sex meant that the press was a hugely significant source of knowledge and imagery about sexual behavior, personal relationships, and moral codes. Focusing on changing ideas of what...