Books
Barrett is the co-author of Star Trek: The Human Frontier, written with his mother Michele Barrett and published by Polity Press in 2000. [9] He edited Vitali Vitaliev's travelogue Passport to Enclavia, published by Reportage Press in 2008. [10]
Barrett was the editor of Ronald Skirth's pacifist First World War memoir The Reluctant Tommy , published by Macmillan in 2010. [5] In it he wrote that, having come across Skirth's memoir through his mother's research, he felt determined that it should be read by a wide audience. [11] The book was favourably reviewed by Richard Holmes in the Evening Standard [12] and Jonathan Gibbs in the Financial Times, [13] Socialist Worker [14] and the Sunday Express. [15] However, it came under attack from the granddaughter of one of Skirth's fellow soldiers, who questioned its accuracy. [16] In a revised introduction to the paperback edition (2011), Barrett defended the memoir, encouraging people to "read the book for yourself and make up your own mind who to believe". [17]
In 2012, Collins published The Sugar Girls , [1] a book co-written by Barrett with Nuala Calvi, telling the stories of women workers at Tate & Lyle's East End factories since the Second World War. [18] It soon became a best-seller. [19] In an article for History Workshop Online, Barrett wrote that, while their methodology was indebted to oral history, the result was a work of narrative non-fiction. [20] The authors were inspired by Jennifer Worth's Call the Midwife , which was their "touchstone" as they wrote. [21] The book is accompanied by a blog, where Barrett and Calvi discuss broader issues of life and work in the East End of London in the period covered by the book, as well as posting photographs and audio clips of the women they interviewed. [22]
In 2013, Barrett and Calvi's second book together, GI Brides , was published by Harper, based on interviews with British women who married Americans during the Second World War. [23] It soon became a Sunday Times best-seller. [24] The following year, a US edition of the book went into The New York Times nonfiction bestseller list. [25]
In 2014, Barrett's first solo book, Men of Letters was published by AA Publishing. The book tells the story of the Post Office Rifles during the First World War. [26]
Barrett and Calvi's third collaboration for HarperCollins, The Girls Who Went to War , tells the true stories of women who served in the Army, Navy and Air Force during the Second World War. The book was published on 7 May 2015, and launched the following day to commemorate the 70th anniversary of VE Day. [27] On 17 May 2015, it went into the Sunday Times bestseller list at number 6. [28]
In 2018, Barrett’s second solo book, Hitler’s British Isles , was published by Simon & Schuster, based on interviews he conducted with around 100 people who lived through the German occupation of the Channel Islands during the Second World War. [29]
In 2024, Barrett and Calvi’s book The Sugar Girls of Love Lane was published by Simon & Schuster, a follow-up to their 2012 book The Sugar Girls , but focusing on Henry Tate’s original Liverpool sugar refinery. [30]
In 2025, Barrett and Calvi's book Blitz Kids was published by Headline to commemorate the 80th anniversary of VE Day. [31]
Podcasts
Barrett wrote and co-produced the podcast series Titanic: Ship of Dreams, [38] narrated by Paul McGann, and featuring contributions from his brother Stephen, who discovered that their great-grandfather Jimmy was a coal trimmer on board the ship. [39] Produced by the Noiser Podcast Network, the series debuted in April 2025. [40] It received mostly positive reviews in The Times ('fitted out as lavishly as a White Star Line cabin', 3 stars), [41] The Financial Times ('glossy', 'smart sound design') [42] and the New Statesmen , where reviewer Anna Leszkiewicz praised Barrett's script as 'arresting and immediate'. [43] It was shortlisted for two British Podcast Awards, [44] and was chosen by The Atlantic as one of the "20 Best Podcasts of 2025", [45] as well as being one of Apple's Top 10 Podcasts of the year in both the United Kingdom and Ireland. [46]
Barrett previously co-produced the twelve-part podcast series D-Day: The Tide Turns, [47] also for Noiser, and also narrated by Paul McGann. [48] It was selected as one of The Economist's Top 10 Podcasts of 2024. [49]
He has contributed scripts to other Noiser podcasts, including Short History Of..., [50] Real Dictators [51] and Real Survival Stories, [52] and served as producer on Charles Dickens Ghost Stories, read by Sir David Suchet, [53] and Sherlock Holmes Short Stories, read by Hugh Bonneville. [54]
This page is based on this
Wikipedia article Text is available under the
CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
