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Pen & Sword Military Books presents a comprehensive history of Leeds during the Second World War. The book starts with the optimistic state of the city in 1939 before the war began, noting that there was a sense of enterprise as advertisements in local press read 'Leeds is Prosperous' alongside images of modern factories with the sign 'Factory sites available'. From there, the book looks at the city's experience during the war, including the first of the bombing raids on Leeds in March 1941 during which time, the author's own grandfather, Joe Schofield was an ARP warden in Beeston. The lives of citizens are shared in the book, whether that is their choice to shelter in coal sheds rather than public shelters, their eagerness to engage in the football season between 1940 and 1941 (even if Leeds lost to Middlesbrough), and the naivety of children who would use the roads for cricket, football, hopscotch, piggy as 'nobody in the area had a car'. Learn about the important role of the Women's Voluntary Service in Leeds which helped with a request for clothes for Dutch and Belgian refugees in Rotherham and was so successful that the branch not only sent a full lorry to the main Leeds Refugee Headquarters but also stored large quantities at the Public Assistance Board Centre. Discover the life of Sue Ryder, one of Leeds' most famous women who volunteered with the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry at the age of 15 and took care of Polish flying aces. The photographs in the book offer fantastic insight into life in Leeds, including shots of aircraft production bungalows for Yeadon workers in Nunroyd, children from Guiseley at a VJ Day party organised by the British Legion and a gas car owned by Gillroyd Mills from Morley which was driven by gas pumped into the container from a roof. Paperback, black and white photos, 152pp.