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355 reviews for:
When Books Went to War: The Stories That Helped Us Win World War II
Molly Guptill Manning
3.96 AVERAGE
355 reviews for:
When Books Went to War: The Stories That Helped Us Win World War II
Molly Guptill Manning
3.96 AVERAGE
An important book, but exceedingly repetitive. I loved A Tree Grows in Brooklyn as well but the number of similar stories on it as "a fave" made me weary. :-(
I've run into ASEs a bunch while buying old books online, so I was somewhat familiar with the concept (also, through Books for Victory, which is where I heard about THIS book). I really enjoyed the execution, although my reading list is now quite a bit longer than it was before. Among many others, I think I'll have to get around to [b:Forever Amber|5368|Forever Amber |Kathleen Winsor|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1350464965s/5368.jpg|2522906] one of these days, just to know what the fuss was all about.
The appendix with the full print run of ASEs is also incredibly useful.
The appendix with the full print run of ASEs is also incredibly useful.
I liked this--the author clearly became very passionate about the efforts to provide WWII soldiers with reading material. I knew little of this---I'm not surprised that librarians collected books in the early months of the war, but I did not know about the huge effort to print small flexible paperbacks at low cost for distribution to servicemen. I especially found the efforts to limit or censor what was printed very interesting. Nice little book about a part of the war I knew nothing about. And this is kind of fun--apparently one of the most in-demand titles printed in American Servicemen Editions was . . . A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Wouldn't have guessed that!
An enjoyable and informative side in the history of the Second World War. This is perhaps more a book for bibliophiles and librarians than for those interested in military history.
Guptill Manning, a history major who went on to become a lawyer, provides us with the general historic background, as well as the history of the Victory Book Campaign and Armed Services Editions. She starts out with the Nazi book burnings, and throughout the book gives us information on the battles of WWII (D Day, and the brutality of the fighting in Asia). For the book burnings, do yourself a favor and find the free online version of Steven Vincent Benet's short radio play, "They Burned the Books".
Guptill Manning stays away from both heavy cultural theory and the horrid but popular "you're in their mind" styles of historical writing. She has done some outstanding original research in archives.
At times she does seem to overstate the importance of the ASE's for the moral of the troups overseas. Thinking about it, I don't remember ever seeing someone reading one in films about WWII. But then guys shooting craps is more exciting on screen than someone sitting by themselves with their head in a book!
Over 5 years the group released 1200 titles of these unique sized books, which were easy to carry for soldiers. It is appropriate, given the Nazi beliefs, that the first title published was "The Education of Hyman Kaplan" by Leonard Ross/Leo Rosten.
I know people who collect these editions - many are hard to come by, as they were made on cheaper paper, were in combat zones, and were read to shreds by multiple readers. One of her good points is that soldiers who had never read books before were now anxiously waiting for the next monthly delivery of titles.
"A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" was one of the most popular titles, and was reprinted in the series at least once. It was interesting to look up and find out a bit about Betty Smith's life. Sent to work instead of to high school, she ended up attending Yale Drama!
One of the other most popular titles was Lillian Smith's "Strange Fruit" - a novel of interracial love, but the soldiers were more interested in the steamy sex scenes!
A good read, moves along quickly. I would suggest passing by the Footnotes - nice to have them, but they are citations without adding any additional information to the text. Interesting that she identifies the soldiers who wrote letters only by their initials, and not by their names. There were 3 monograph titles I picked out here that she used as important sources for her own work that I might be interested in reading later.
Well researched and written, an enjoyable historical read.
Guptill Manning, a history major who went on to become a lawyer, provides us with the general historic background, as well as the history of the Victory Book Campaign and Armed Services Editions. She starts out with the Nazi book burnings, and throughout the book gives us information on the battles of WWII (D Day, and the brutality of the fighting in Asia). For the book burnings, do yourself a favor and find the free online version of Steven Vincent Benet's short radio play, "They Burned the Books".
Guptill Manning stays away from both heavy cultural theory and the horrid but popular "you're in their mind" styles of historical writing. She has done some outstanding original research in archives.
At times she does seem to overstate the importance of the ASE's for the moral of the troups overseas. Thinking about it, I don't remember ever seeing someone reading one in films about WWII. But then guys shooting craps is more exciting on screen than someone sitting by themselves with their head in a book!
Over 5 years the group released 1200 titles of these unique sized books, which were easy to carry for soldiers. It is appropriate, given the Nazi beliefs, that the first title published was "The Education of Hyman Kaplan" by Leonard Ross/Leo Rosten.
I know people who collect these editions - many are hard to come by, as they were made on cheaper paper, were in combat zones, and were read to shreds by multiple readers. One of her good points is that soldiers who had never read books before were now anxiously waiting for the next monthly delivery of titles.
"A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" was one of the most popular titles, and was reprinted in the series at least once. It was interesting to look up and find out a bit about Betty Smith's life. Sent to work instead of to high school, she ended up attending Yale Drama!
One of the other most popular titles was Lillian Smith's "Strange Fruit" - a novel of interracial love, but the soldiers were more interested in the steamy sex scenes!
A good read, moves along quickly. I would suggest passing by the Footnotes - nice to have them, but they are citations without adding any additional information to the text. Interesting that she identifies the soldiers who wrote letters only by their initials, and not by their names. There were 3 monograph titles I picked out here that she used as important sources for her own work that I might be interested in reading later.
Well researched and written, an enjoyable historical read.
I greatly enjoyed this book. What a truely powerful account of the role of books and reading and World War II. Once again, librarians helped lead the way even though the publishers got involved with Armed Services Editions program. I may be a bit biased because many years ago, I wrote an article on Indiana's libraries helped on the home front and this took it further. Maybe she got me with the opening story the impact on one soldier and a Tree Grows in Brooklyn. I would highly recommend this book.
Such a moving true story about how books saved the world, and lifted a generation.
Ok, my most recent departure from fiction was SO worth it. Really interesting book about (wait for it) BOOKS! So, naturally, I liked it. Such a neat way to look at and learn more about WWII.
Very interesting to learn about paperbacks and their importance to people in war times.
An account of books provided to servicemen in WWII, tracking how they were obtained, and the effects of them during and after the war. While the bickering that went on, as well as censorship, is a bit disheartening, it's amazing what was achieved. This changed the way books were published, and a lot of lives.