History of the United States (1918–1945) (especially poor people) and prevent inflation. Tires were the first item to be rationed in January 1942 because supplies of natural rubber were interrupted. Gasoline rationing proved an even better way to allocate scarce rubber. By 1943 one needed government issued ration coupons to purchase typewriters, sugar, gasoline, bicycles, footwear, fuel oil, silk, nylon, coffee, stoves, shoes, meat, cheese, butter, margarine, canned foods, dried fruits, jam, and many other items. Some items—like new automobiles and appliances—were no longer made. The rationing system did not apply to used goods (like clothes or cars). The ration system was complex and confusing, but
The Cambridge Guide to the Arts in Britain Press between 1988 and 1991. Ford was a graduate of Cambridge University and had been Education Secretary to the Cambridge University Press in 1957-58. He had experience of editing large multi-volume works, having previously edited the "Pelican Guide to English Literature" in seven volumes (1954-61), and the new edition of that guide issued from 1982 to 1988. The guide was an ambitious attempt to give a picture of the arts as a whole in each age of Britain and to allow comparison between the ages and of how the different arts had treated the themes of their age. Ford wrote