The War in American Culture: Society and Consciousness During World War II

Book Overview

The War in American Culture explores the role of World War II in the transformation of American social, cultural, and political life.

World War II posed a crisis for American culture: to defeat the enemy, Americans had to unite across the class, racial and ethnic boundaries that had long divided them. Exploring government censorship of war photography, the revision of immigration laws, Hollywood moviemaking, swing music, and popular magazines, these essays reveal the creation of a new national identity that was pluralistic, but also controlled and sanitized. Concentrating on the home front and the impact of the war on the lives of ordinary Americans, the contributors give us a rich portrayal of family life, sexuality, cultural images, and working-class life in addition to detailed consideration of African Americans, Latinos, and women who lived through the unsettling and rapidly altered circumstances of wartime America.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0226215121
• ISBN13: 9780226215129
• Release Date: May 1996
• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Length: 356 Pages
• Weight: 1.12 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.0" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Fascinating Collection of 13 different articles

This book is a must-read, despite the fact that there are thousands of histories written about the Second World War. Its thirteen chapters discuss different topics, so there is something for everybody, and every essay is meticulously crafted, making them both delightful and simple to read. This book provides an insight into World War II that few other books are able to provide because of the wide-scope of the thirteen essays, yet all of the essays revolve around a central theme which makes this paper useful in studies, yet provocative and interesting. Viewed by many as "the last good war," World War II smashed Nazism, and resulted in a clear-cut victory for America which became the richest nation on earth. However, this book stomps out the idea of the last good war by bringing attention to the irony that while Americans were fighting a war on inequality abroad, they had their own home-front war to wage on race, gender and ethnic relations. Erenberg and Hirsch's book is a collection of thirteen different articles that provide insight into American culture during the World War II within a variety of contexts ranging from censorship to swing and zoot suits to privacy. The first part of the book, titled "The Quest for National Unity" contains three articles and is, by far, my favorite section. The essay by Perry R. Duis examines the war's effect on privacy in Chicago. He interestingly points-out that for the first time, Americans' homes were invaded by strangers who, in the case of disaster, needed to know the basic lay-out of every home and a detailed description of the family members and their schedules in the unfortunate event of a necessary rescue. George H. Roeder Jr.'s article takes readers on a fascinating ride through formerly censored photographs as he explains what was censored during the war and why. This article shows readers how the American government strictly controlled public opinion during the war and even gives readers a peek into photographs that somehow made it past the watchful eye of the censors. Lary May's article examines how the film industry supported ethnic pluralism and utopian ideals during the war, and is certain to introduce key players like Frank Capra and his Why We Fight series. One of his primary examples is Lifeboat, a movie that portrayed European immigrants as full Americans. The remainder of the book provides insight into varying experiences of American minorities, including women, Japanese and Chinese-Americans, African-Americans, Mexican-Americans and Native Americans. The most fascinating aspect of Erenberg and Hirsch's book is that some essays examine the different minorities as a micro-history, while others do a comprehensive study.