A People's History of World War II

by Favreau, Marc

• ISBN13: 9781595581662
• ISBN10: 1595581669
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-10-11
• Publisher: New Pr

Summary

One of the most destructive wars in human history, WWII still haunts nations and is a subject of ongoing interest for films, television and books, generating a rich trove of historical material. Through vivid accounts, WWII is brought to life in this concise and accessible volume, which includes first-person interviews by Studs Terkel; propaganda comics from Dr. Seuss; stories of wartime experiences from writers including historian Howard Zinn and celebrated French author Marguerite Duras and writings of some of the world's leading war historians.

Author Biography

Mare Eavbeau is the editorial director of The New Press. Authors he has worked with include Ira Berlin, Eric Hobsbawrn, Lloyd C. Gardner, Nelson Lichtenstein, Ellen Schrecker, and Patricia Sullivan. A co-editor of Remembering Slavery, he lives in New York City.

Table of Contents

Series Preface	p. ix
Editor's Note	p. xi
Beginnings Pearl Harbor	p. 1
Photo Essay "Pearl Harbor Photographs"	p. 3
"December 7,1941": Studs Terkel interviews American witnesses to the Japanese attacks	p. 5
"December 8,1941": Interviews with Japanese civilians and soldiers	p. 14
"Austin, Texas, December 9,1941": Man-on-the-street interview following the attack on Pearl Harbor	p. 23
The War in Europe	p. 31
"War": Historian Eric Hobsbawm reflects on the coming of the war	p. 33
"Flight": Elisabeth Freund, a German Jewish emigre, recounts her flight from Nazi Germany	p. 58
"A Turning Point": Studs Terkel interviews Mikhail Nikolaevich Alexeyev, Russian author and editor, about his experiences as a Soviet soldier on the Eastern Front	p. 77
"The Bombers and the Bombed": Studs Terkel interviews Eddie Costello and Ursula Bender about the Allied bombing of Frankfurt, Germany	p. 83
"Return to Auschwitz": Author and Holocaust survivor Primo Levi is interviewed as he returns to Auschwitz after forty years	p. 91
The US. Home Front	p. 103
"Trouble Coming": Nelson Peery describes the profound racial tensions that erupted in Southern states as African American soldiers mobilized in large numbers	p. 105
"A Sunday Evening": Studs Terkel interviews Peter Ota, an American-born Japanese man who served in the American military	p. 115
Photo Essay "Manzanar": Ansel Adams photographs an internment camp for Japanese Americans	p. 121
"Statement on Entering Prison": David Dellinger issues a political statement on his status as a conscientious objector in 1943	p. 123
"Rosie": Studs Terkel interviews a woman who went to work in a factory during the war	p. 128
Photo Essay "Rosie the Riveter": From the Office of War Information archive	p. 135
"Confronting the Holocaust": Historian David Wyman interviews Hillel Kook, who led the effort in the U.S. to push American leaders to rescue European Jews	p. 137
Image Essay "Dr. Seuss Goes to War": Propaganda cartoons from Theodore Geisel on the Nazi menace	p. 161
The Pacific War	p. 163
"The Slaughter of an Army": Osawa Masatsugu relates his experiences as a Japanese soldier in New Guinea in 1943	p. 165
"Tales of the Pacific": Studs Terkel interviews E.B. (Sledgehammer) Sledge about the American experience of war in the Pacific	p. 177
"An American Revolutionary": Nelson Peery relates his experiences as an African American soldier in the fight against Japan	p. 186
"One World or None": An excerpt from public statements by leading atomic scientists, warning of the dangers of nuclear weapons	p. 192
"The Atomic Bomb": Studs Terkel talks with a nuclear physicist who worked on the Manhattan Project	p. 205
"A Terrible New Weapon": Firsthand witnesses of Ground Zero at Hiroshima and Nagasaki	p. 219
Postwar	p. 235
"The War (Rough Draft)": An account of Paris after the German occupation, by Marguerite Duras	p. 237
"Refugees": Poet Charles Simic remembers a life in transit in the aftermath of the German surrender	p. 260
Sources	p. 273
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