The New York Times Living History: World War II, 1939-1942: The Axis Assault - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0805072462 ISBN 13: 9780805072464

Publisher: Times Books, 2003

Synopsis

Introducing a new series where history comes alive in riveting documents and images of great events as they occurred

We have long relied on historians to sift through the debris of history and piece together narratives to shape our understanding of events. But it is in the letters, diaries, speeches, song lyrics, newspaper articles, and government papers that history comes alive. The New York Times Living History books reinvigorate history by presenting the actual documents and images of the day.

Eminent historian Douglas Brinkley has carefully chosen fifty critical documents that chart the Axis's grip over Europe and the Pacific-such as Churchill's Blood and Toil speech and the text of the Atlantic Charter. Readers will find FDR's cables to Japan in the hours before Pearl Harbor, Edward R. Murrow's broadcast during the Blitz, an American G.I.'s last message from Corregidor, and a Dutch boy's diary recounting Germany's invasion.

Each primary document is accompanied by New York Times reporting or commentary from the period and original text illuminating their historical significance. News photos and other images add a strong visual component to this vivid re-creation of history.

About this title

About the Author:

Douglas Brinkley is the director of the Eisenhower Center for American Studies at the University of New Orleans, where he is a distinguished professor and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He is the author and editor of numerous books of U. S. history, including a Penguin Lives biography of Rosa Parks. He lives in New Orleans, Louisiana.

From Publishers Weekly:

The first volume in the New York Times's new Living History series provides a kaleidoscopic, illustrated vision of the opening years of WWII, from Roosevelt's "quarantine" speech in 1937 to the RAF's Thousand-Plane Raid on Cologne in 1942. Each chapter consists of a short historical introduction by volume editor Rubel, a Times news feature, a contemporary document and one or more Times photographs. The contemporary documents range widely, including a good many letters and speeches not easily accessible today: Hitler's greetings to Mussolini and Wendell Wilkie's denunciation of the massacre at Lidice are just two examples. Other documents include a poem by e. e. cummings, lyrics for Woody Guthrie's song about the destroyer Reuben James (sunk by a U-boat in 1941), and a volunteer's account of her training in the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps. (Another aspect of that training is shown in a photograph of the WAACs running through an obstacle course-in skirts.) The book does contain a few glitches-the Arsenal of Democracy chapter is illustrated by a considerably later (if not inappropriate) shot of the Liberty Ships; the "Battle of Britain" photograph actually shows pre-war Luftwaffe training-and the coverage of the Russian Front is scanty (perhaps inevitably, given the shortage of material at that time). Nonetheless, with its many fascinating primary documents and its fine organization, this volume is a good choice for browsing, an excellent resource for classroom use and a valuable sampler of how key events in the great cataclysm looked at the time.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Times Books
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0805072462
• ISBN 13: 9780805072464
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 349
• Editor: Brinkley Douglas