Reporting World War II Vol. 1 (Loa #77): American Journalism 1938-1944

Book Overview

This Library of America volume is the first of a unique two-volume anthology. Drawn from original newspaper and magazine reports, radio transcripts, and wartime books, Reporting World War II captures the intensity of the war's unfolding drama as recorded by the best of a remarkable generation of journalists, whose talents, sense of purpose, and physical courage remain unsurpassed in the annals of war reporting. Here in one collection, over...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1883011043
• ISBN13: 9781883011048
• Release Date: September 1995
• Publisher: Library of America
• Length: 912 Pages
• Weight: 1.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 5.2" x 8.1"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Five - star journalism

There is little I can add to the fine reviews already posted on this site. Library of America has done a fine job collecting these works, and adding useful sections on maps, notes, author mini bios and an excellent yet brief Chronology of the main events of WWII. Some of these articles verge on literature. Consider the following opening sentences of an article written by Mary Heaton Vorse on munition girl workers ("The girls of Elkton, Maryland", p. 471): "It was pay day at the munitions plant. There seemed to be a run on the bank at Elkton." Or, how about Ernye Plye reporting the London bombing of December 29, 1940 (p. 147): "Half an hour after the firing started I gathered a couple of friends and went to a high, darkened balcony that gave us a view of one-third of the entire circle of London. As we stepped out onto the balcony, a vast inner excitement came over all of us --an excitement that had neither fear nor horror in it, because it was too full of awe. You have all seen big fires, but I doubt if you have ever seen the whole horizon of a city lined with great fires..." You can skip articles back and forth if you wish, or read cover to cover, depending on your personal taste. And as another reviewer pointed out, these articles make great reading material for commuting, waiting at the doctor's office, etc. If you have any interest in World War II you will love this book.

World War II as it happened

If any book deserves more than a five star rating this (as well as its sequel, "Reporting World War II Part Two: American Journalism 1944-1946") is it. Attractively bound, compact and very readable, this volume is Part One of a two-volume set which provides an incomparable overview of World War II, as it was experienced by our parents' and grandparents' generation. This is not just another book about The War and the Big Names who create and control Events. It is above all a book about ordinary people and for ordinary people, who find themselves caught up in positions not of their choosing. Some are victims, some are heroes, some just watch and wait, but most are small pieces in a Big Picture they can barely comprehend. Unlike the usual histories of World War II, which have been written long after the fact and with the benefit of hind-sight, this superb collection, arranged in chronological order and using newspapers, magazine articles, radio broadcasts, diaries and photographs from the great journalists of the day, allows us to follow the events - at home and abroad -- as they happened. We all know how events turned out, but this book takes us back to that time, with an immediacy, an uncertainty and an irony, to what it was like to be alive during this immense, all-consuming, mid-20th century, global conflict. Beginning with William Shirer at the Munich Conference of 1938 which handed the Sudetenland over to Hitler, then in Berlin on September 1, 1939 reporting on the German Invasion of Poland, and later, at Compiegne for the surrender of France in 1940, these are some of the high-lights: Sigrid Schultz in Berlin on Kristallnacht, November 9, 1938; A J Leibling in Paris and Virginia Cowles fleeing Paris before the German advance; Edward R Murrow broadcasting daily from London during the Blitz; C L Sulzberger from Athens (also soon to fall) on the German invasion of Yugoslavia, April 1941; and Margaret Bourke-White on the Russian Front in 1941; The New York Herald Tribune prints Roosevelt's war message on December 8, 1941 as "America declares War"; Husband and wife team -- Melville Jacoby describes the Japanese attack on the Philippines, December 1941, "War Hits Manila", and Annalee Jacoby records the heroism of "Bataan Nurses" under fire; Raymond Clapper provides a "Pearl Harbor Post-mortem"; Ernie Pyle is on the spot in London, North Africa, Sicily & the Italian campaign; On Christmas Night 1941 Cecil Brown sends a cable from Singapore on the "Malay Jungle War"; Jack Belden describes "Stilwell's Retreat Through Burma", May 1942; Brendan Gill is on the US Home Front in 1942, "Rationing"; "A Vast Slaughterhouse", a report of the extermination of Jews, appears in the New York Times, June 1942 - a harbinger of the horrors to come; E B White follows Dorothy Lamour to Bangor, Maine for a "Bond Rally"; Roi Ottley, George Schuyler & Deton Brooks report separate incidents of racial discrimination including the murder of black soldiers

Another treasure from the wonderul Library of America

I am so glad the Library of America put together these volumes of reporting from the Second World War. Sadly, all those who were living during those years are leaving us all to rapidly. Certainly, the living knowledge of the events and times is fading fast. While we value the books great authors give us, we should treasure even more the writing given us at the time. In volume one we have reporting from great journalists starting in 1938 Shirer's article on the Munich conference that gave Germany the Sudetenland. We get to follow the rise of Anti-Semitism in Germany with Kristallnacht, the fall of Poland and Paris. The London Blitz is covered by Edward R. Murrow and more and more. The United States doe not even enter the war until page 241 with the Herald Tribune's reporting of Roosevelt's "War Message". The reporting also takes us into the Pacific and gets us down with those doing the actual work of the war including Annalee Jacoby's account of nurses under fire in Bataan. We get early reporting on the Japanese Internment camps and the Holocaust with the NY Times reporting in 1942 that one million Jews reported slain. There is a section of fine photos of the reporters included and others in the text including some aerial shots from a bomber's point of view. This first volume ends with the Mountain Campaign in Italy in 1944. The volume also supplies a short, but full chronology of the war, some excellent maps, biographies of the journalists, acknowledgements, notes on the texts, and a glossary of military terms. A superb job.

Remarkable First Hand Reporting

You can read history books and watch all of the redigitalized DVD's (movies) of World War II stories but the "best of the best" is right here in this wonderful compilation of first hand accounts from reporters who were on the scene and reported back to their readership when the events were actually occurring. It is fascinating to read what was reported at that time in history. This compliation is well worth reading. It also contains a great general biographical summary of all of the reporters who's work appears in the book. These were interesting people in their own right. I will use their biographies as a valuable resource for other additional readings.

Eyewitnesses to War

Back before all news came filtered through a television lens, hard working men and women travelled to remote locations and put themselves in harm's way to write eyewitness accounts of history for newspaper and magazine readers. This fascinating book is full of such accounts, from William Shirer's account of the 1938 Munich Conference (including his brush with a swaggering Hitler) to fascinating reports of the fall of Paris by A. J. Liebling and Virginia Cowles, to Edward R. Murrow's descriptions of war-torn but defiant London to Ernie Pyle's moving tales of soldiers in the trenches of Africa and Sicily. This book offers a unique glimpse into World War II by the people who were there, who lived through the extraordinary as well as the ordinary moments of that war. Included in this volume are incredible snapshots of the American homefront, including a report from a Japanese internment camps, as well as a "report on mass murder" in German concerntration camps by Ed Murrow in 1942, long before most Americans had any idea of the true horror of the holocaust. This volume explores all aspects of the war, and, as such, is an incredible historical document as well as a fascinating read. Highly recommended!