The 1940s (Cultural History of the United States Through the Decades)

Rating:
Summary: World War II dominates the entire decade of the 1940s
Review: Obviously most of the chapters in "The 1940s" are going to be devoted to the Second War War, while the rest reflect its aftermath. Michael V. Uschan goes through the decade in seven chapters: (1) America Enters the War covers Pearl Harbor and how the country geared up for war; (2) America at War: The Home Front talks about the impact on the war in terms of women working in defense plants and internment camps for Japanese-Americans; (3) Winning the War is an interesting chapter because unlike the rest of the book it provides LESS details about the details of the war than you would expect to find in a standard American history textbook; (4) The Movies Go to War focuses on how Hollywood provided more than entertainment during this period; (5) Postwar Life looks at how the returning GIs created a new world of life in the suburbs while Jackie Robinson breaks the color line in baseball, which has profound social consequences; (6) Popular Culture: From Jack Benny to Howdy Doody traces how the decade begins with the heyday of radio and ends with the emergence of television; (7) The Cold War will dominate the next decade, but Uschan shows how it begins here, the ironic legacy of WW2. This is a decade that is not dominated by any one individual, despite the best efforts of FDR, but rather by events. The goal here is to get beyond what you are going to find in your standard American history textbook and Uschan certainly accomplishes that overall.

This book is part of the series A Cultural History of the United States: Through the Decades. The book is "enlivened" with numerous photographs as well as informative sidebars on topics like Edward R. Murrow, Comic Books, the Hollywood Ten, and Forties slang. With this particular volume, I think the sidebars are more useful than usual, mainly because students tend to already know the basic story of the war, making the details more important. Despite the title, these books obviously look at more than just American culture, covering technology, significant political and social events, as well as trends in things like music. The back of the book includes notes, bibliographies, a chronology of events, and a detailed index.

Rating:
Summary: World War II dominates the entire decade of the 1940s
Review: Obviously most of the chapters in "The 1940s" are going to be devoted to the Second War War, while the rest reflect its aftermath. Michael V. Uschan goes through the decade in seven chapters: (1) America Enters the War covers Pearl Harbor and how the country geared up for war; (2) America at War: The Home Front talks about the impact on the war in terms of women working in defense plants and internment camps for Japanese-Americans; (3) Winning the War is an interesting chapter because unlike the rest of the book it provides LESS details about the details of the war than you would expect to find in a standard American history textbook; (4) The Movies Go to War focuses on how Hollywood provided more than entertainment during this period; (5) Postwar Life looks at how the returning GIs created a new world of life in the suburbs while Jackie Robinson breaks the color line in baseball, which has profound social consequences; (6) Popular Culture: From Jack Benny to Howdy Doody traces how the decade begins with the heyday of radio and ends with the emergence of television; (7) The Cold War will dominate the next decade, but Uschan shows how it begins here, the ironic legacy of WW2. This is a decade that is not dominated by any one individual, despite the best efforts of FDR, but rather by events. The goal here is to get beyond what you are going to find in your standard American history textbook and Uschan certainly accomplishes that overall.

This book is part of the series A Cultural History of the United States: Through the Decades. The book is "enlivened" with numerous photographs as well as informative sidebars on topics like Edward R. Murrow, Comic Books, the Hollywood Ten, and Forties slang. With this particular volume, I think the sidebars are more useful than usual, mainly because students tend to already know the basic story of the war, making the details more important. Despite the title, these books obviously look at more than just American culture, covering technology, significant political and social events, as well as trends in things like music. The back of the book includes notes, bibliographies, a chronology of events, and a detailed index.