When Books Went to War
- Author Molly Guptill Manning
- Narrator Bernadette Dunne
- Publisher Blackstone Publishing
- Publish Date 1 January 1970
- Run Time 6 hours and 49 minutes
- Format Audio
- Genre History, Military history, Military veterans, Second World War, Society and Social Sciences.
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What to expect
When America entered World War II in 1941, we faced an enemy that had banned and burned over 100 million books and caused fearful citizens to hide or destroy many more.
Outraged librarians launched a campaign to send free books to American troops and gathered twenty million hardcover donations. In 1943 the War Department and the publishing industry stepped in with an extraordinary program: 120 million small, lightweight paperbacks for troops to carry in their pockets and their rucksacks in every theater of war.
Comprising 1,200 different titles of every imaginable type, these paperbacks were beloved by the troops and are still fondly remembered today. Soldiers read them while waiting to land at Normandy, in hellish trenches in the midst of battles in the Pacific, in field hospitals, and on long bombing flights.
They wrote to the authors, many of whom responded to every letter. They helped rescue The Great Gatsby from obscurity. They made Betty Smith, author of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, into a national icon. When Books Went to War is an inspiring story for history buffs and book lovers alike.
Critics Review
“A careful account of what it took—a lot—to ensure that US fighting men had the right stuff to read.”
“Illuminates a dusty slice of WWII history that most of us know nothing about.”
“Dunne…depicts a wide range of voices…[and] a spot-on German accent eerily laced with Nazi evil. This audio is perfect for different generations of readers.”
“Manning has scoured
archives to retrieve soldiers’ touching accounts of the therapeutic,
life-saving influence of stories that took their minds away from daily horrors.”
“While re-telling the history of the war, Manning threads through the impact that books had in fighting the Nazis.”
“Highly readable and extremely appealing.”
“A fresh perspective on the trials of war and the power of books.”
“[A] delightful
history of a little-known aspect of the war in 1940…Manning’s entertaining account will have readers
nostalgic for that seemingly distant era when books were high priority.”
“[An] uplifting account of America’s counterattack against Nazi Germany’s wholesale burning of books…I was enthralled and moved.”
“A thrilling and concise history of World War II featuring the written word.”
“This is the beautiful story of a great, nearly
forgotten chapter in our history. In addition to sending men, bombers, and
rifles overseas to win World War II, America sent books—filling the bored hours
that separate war’s terrors, helping give purpose to the fight, and shaping the
taste of generations. What a wonderful thing.”
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