Fighting with money: War, patriotic thrift and citizenship in the British world, 1939-45

During the second world war, war savings campaigns reframed money as a means to defend children, secure freedom, and enact citizenship across the British world. Patriotic thrift propaganda urged people to reject consumer goods and instead invest deliberately in stamps, certificates and bonds, presenting saving as a patriotic act that transformed subjects into accountable citizens. Officials and volunteers built a state-directed mobilisation that documented participation and linked household...