World War II (Letters from the Battlefront)

Describes the second World War through the letters of the people who fought it, serving in all branches of the military, throughout the Pacific, northern Africa, and Europe.

Reviewed with Virginia Schomp's The Civil War.

Gr. 6-8. This companion series to the Letters from the Homefront series makes use of letters to give a first-hand sense of the history. Schomp presents the story of each military conflict in a succinct, readable way, highlighting aspects of importance to American social history, such as race relations during and after each war. More than a dozen letters appear in each book, along with a paragraph of background on the letter writer and historical context. Most of the period photographs are black-and-white, and their reproduction is quite good. Color is used for tinted photos as well as for paintings and maps. Sidebars provide information on topics such as the rebel yell and boys in uniform (in Civil War) and military censors and the Tuskegee Airmen (in World War II). Each book ends with a time line, a bibliography, notes for quotations, and acknowledgments of sources for the reprinted letters. An attractive, informative series. Carolyn Phelan
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