Everyday Life in the COVID-19 Pandemic

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How will the COVID-19 pandemic be remembered? What did it mean to people? How did it feel? This book provides an unprecedented account of the pandemic as it was experienced in the UK. Everyday Life in the COVID-19 Pandemic is a democratic history based on the 5, 000 diaries collected by Mass Observation on 12 May 2020. It is a record of what many of these diarists wrote, from a wide range of positions, in a variety of voices and on a wealth of different subjects. The book shines a light on their experiences on the day in question, their experiences during the first two months of the pandemic, and their hopes and fears for the coming months and years. The diaries capture much of everyday life in the pandemic for millions of people in the UK and beyond: the activities, events, and rituals (from baking to working from home), the sites and stages (from shops to Zoom), the roles and categories (from 'key workers' to 'vulnerable groups'), the materials (from facemasks to aching teeth), and the moods (from anxiety to grief). In these diaries, we see what people did when the pandemic arrived in the UK, but also what people thought and felt - how they interpreted the pandemic experience and gave it meaning. We see both how the nation responded and the nation who responded. The book also includes two essays which offer expert contextualisation and discussion of the diarising and its value in narrating the pandemic and presenting everyday life in a time of crisis.