The Good War - An Oral History Of World War 2

[brandondrury]

Anyone looking to gain insight into what World War 2 really meant and how we got to "here", this is the best possible book I can imagine for gaining an incredibly broad perspective.

The author interviewed hundreds and hundreds of people. The people just started talking. There were the obvious Army infantry types who said "war sucks", but it went to deeper and unexpected places.

One guy discussed how one division of the Army was pissed because they were phasing out horses.

A lady discussed how soda was forced about them while working in the factories for the first time.

One guy was an Admiral and discussed how "young people die when the old people say 'die' ".

There was quite a bit of talk about the irony of fighting the Nazis (obviously known for their racism) while at the same time the military was segregated and HIGHLY racist itself.

Anyway, I could go on and on. The main point is that it is SOOO tough to figure out what was really going on with anything. This book is 100% accurate because it's not trying to retell history. It's simply recording what the people have said.

If there was a European and Japanese version of this book, there would be little need for any more WW2 books.

Brandon

[maxpidge]

you should also read studs book on the great depression...

[brandondrury]

That one may hurt a little bit! I'll add it to my Chirstmas list. Besides Stephen Ambrose, I really haven't picked on author and bought all their books, but sooner or later I would have thought to read more of Studs books.

Right now I'm reading Albert Speer's autobiography. It's about as bad ass as books come.

Brandon

[maxpidge]

uh, what????????

[brandondrury]

It was a spammer. They have been ended.

Brandon