I recommend reading George Orwell's collected letters and essays from this period of time, to get a feel for what it was like living through it without the benefit of hindsight.

(this is up to 1940)

https://www.amazon.com/Collected-Essays-Journalism-Letters-G...

There are other volumes, such as this covering 1940-43:

https://www.amazon.com/Collected-Essays-Journalism-Letters-G...

I recommend reading George Orwell's collected letters and essays from this period of time, to get a feel for what it was like living through it without the benefit of hindsight.

(this is up to 1940)

https://www.amazon.com/Collected-Essays-Journalism-Letters-G...

There are other volumes, such as this covering 1940-43:

https://www.amazon.com/Collected-Essays-Journalism-Letters-G...