The World Within War: America's Combat Experience in World War II

by Gerald F. Linderman

Book Overview

This social history attempts to recapture the full experience of combat in World War II. Drawing on letters and diaries, memoirs and surveys, Gerald Linderman explores how ordinary frontline American... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0684827972
• ISBN13: 9780684827971
• Release Date: November 1997
• Publisher: Free Press
• Length: 408 Pages
• Weight: 1.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 6.4" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

Novel opinions about atrocities

The particularly interesting portion of this book deals with the differences between the fighting in the Pacific and in Europe during WWII. Linderman examines how the differences in terrain, enemy actions, and racial prejudices developed to affect the intensity of the fighting. This is an excellent book for those seeking to look beyond the catch-phrases such as "the good war" and "race hate" in order to understand the mind of the American fighting man in World War II.

A penetrating look at war from those who fight

Linderman has written an extremely informative look at the dynamics of combat, and he leaves nothing out. The reason this author is so successful is he expertly weaves his scholarly approach with an equal amount of first-hand accounts, and the result is a book both deeply personal and unbiased. Judging from the extensive list of references in the Bibliography (which I refered to often, as many of these books I plan on purchasing) Linderman did extensive research, especially reading those books written by the soldiers themselves. The areas this author explores are often overlooked or deliberately avoided by others, and that is what makes this book so refreshing to read. Questions such as "Why him, and not me?", the reactions of ones buddies when someone on the line cracks up from battle fatigue, how soldiers dealt with inept officers, (and the brutally honest assessments of some of these green officers themselves),how the art of war in North Africa was a chivalrous display of honor and prisoner exchanges, and how this was radically different from the no-quarter violence of the Pacific, how the breakdown in discipline at war's end in Europe, and the rumor that those soldiers would be sent to the Pacific, almost caused near riots, and how soldiers reacted to those on the homefront, whether it be the shared pain of a Dear John letter passed among the squad, or the total contempt for the 4-F's that were often healthier than those in combat, or the rounds that didn't fire or grenades that didn't explode because some factory worker decided to stay out too late the night before spending that huge paycheck, this book is startling in it's clarity, and profound in the feelings it can generate, stripping away layers of patriotisim, and exposing this war for what it really was, a violent and thankless job, fought by the young, who fought for their buddies and the sake of getting it over with, and back home to loved ones.My hat is off to all the brave veterans of this war. Well Done.

A Real Tribute

The author of this book succeeds where others far more famous or currently popular fail: he slowly and deliberately peels away the layers of fantasy and denial about the American WW2 combat experience to show the hellish world of the US frontline soldier. Linderman approaches combat as a dark mysterious area undescribable to anyone who hasn't experienced it. He shows its corrosive effect on all who experience it for prolonged periods by using the words and descriptions of veterans. WW2 was especially hard on the American combat soldier(partly because he was American and thus individualistic)- treated like a dog by his officers and the military- unrelieved (unlike even the Germans or other combatants) for any length of time by anything but a wound or death and finally subjected to the heroic fantasies of that "Greatest Generation" of Americans back home or in the rear. I gained new respect for WW2 combat vets by reading this work so refreshingly free of the current rah-rah BS about WW2. Taking a second look at "Saving Private Ryan" after finishing "The World Within War" I realise what was so weird about the movie- it gave us a glimpse at how combat looks but the soldiers as characters were all wrong with their "aw shucks" kind of quiet heroism. Never in a million years in a million parallel universes would actual soldiers have attacked that radar tower with its machine gun emplacement under the circumstances set by the movie. And if they had- no way they would have let that German go.

An Excellent Subject Well Discussed

While many authors (Ambrose and Ryan of note) spend a great deal of energy conveying the story of individual soldiers' experiences, Linderman presents the story of GI's life in combat. What are the rules of war when captive and victor meet face-to-face under the uncertainty of live combat conditions? How does one make sense of the Japanese military's disregard for life, whether it be friend or foe? What is the enlisted man's view of his officers? What is the average workday for a GI (if any day in WWII could be refered to as average)? These questions and many other sociological issues are addressed in detail, leaving no doubt that the experience of WWII was a disturbing one whose weight was successfully carried on the shoulders of the Citizen Soldiers of America at a heavy price both in mortal lives and psyches damaged, some permanently. Of particular note is the discussion of the differences of the conduct of war towards the Wehrmacht and the Imperial Japanese forces, the former one of rules and the latter widely accepted as one of no quarter given.

A superb analysis of the human mind in combat

Linderman masterfully sorts out the complex, human dimension of war. He provides those who have not experienced battle with a taste of its grim realities and the toll it takes on the human mind. Linderman reminds us that there is a cost to war that goes beyond the casualty figures: combat effects those who survive it for the rest of their lives. More importantly, World Within War helps combat veterans understand the thoughts, attitudes and feelings they experienced in battle. They realize that the complex range of emotions they thought so unusual and strictly their own were in fact common given the nature of the environment. The light World Within War sheds on the human aspects of combat makes the book critical to achieving an understanding of men in battle.