, At a time when recording companies and record sales were marginal, the book shows the centrality of the live show and of the sale of sheet music to the economy of the entertainment industry. Mullen assesses the popularity and significance of the different genres of musical entertainment which were common in the war years and the previous decades, including music hall, revue, pantomime, musical comedy, blackface minstrelsy, army entertainment and amateur entertainment in prisoner of war camps. He also considers non-commercial songs, such as hymns, folk songs and soldiers' songs and weaves them into a subtle and nuanced approach to the nature of popular song, ? ? Using a collection of over one thousand popular songs from the war years, as well as around 150 soldiers' songs

. ?-?-contents, The spirit of the poorer parts of London'; Songs about the war: elite voices and people's voices; 'I want to go home': soldier songs and other non-commercial songs; Conclusions; Appendix; Bibliography; Index. ? ? About the Author: John Mullen is senior lecturer at the University of Paris-East Créteil, He has published widely on the history of British popular music. Articles include a reflection on 'ethnic' music festivals and immigrant identity, 1914.