Reporting World War II: American Journalism 1938-1946 (The Library of America)

Rating:
Summary: The best journalists reporting to Americans on WWII
Review: An amazing collection of the finest pieces written on WWII for the American audience. William Shirer, Ernie Pyle, Ernest Hemingway, Bill Maudlin, etc., covering the earliest moves by the Germans into Czechoslovakia and Poland, the Pacific, African and European theaters, the Eastern Front, the Battle of the Bulge, the campaigns in Italy, the home front, the Battle of Britain, and so on. Remarkable for the quality of the writing and the sense of place and time in every piece. Yes, Americans were told the truth in 1938 about Hitler and the Nazis, and about the Holocaust shortly thereafter. Why did we not do something sooner?

Rating:
Summary: The best journalists reporting to Americans on WWII
Review: An amazing collection of the finest pieces written on WWII for the American audience. William Shirer, Ernie Pyle, Ernest Hemingway, Bill Maudlin, etc., covering the earliest moves by the Germans into Czechoslovakia and Poland, the Pacific, African and European theaters, the Eastern Front, the Battle of the Bulge, the campaigns in Italy, the home front, the Battle of Britain, and so on. Remarkable for the quality of the writing and the sense of place and time in every piece. Yes, Americans were told the truth in 1938 about Hitler and the Nazis, and about the Holocaust shortly thereafter. Why did we not do something sooner?

Rating:
Summary: I wish I could give it six stars...
Review: This two-volume set is as gripping as the very best fictional thrillers. The writing quality is amazingly good -- perhaps reporters were just better educated in those days, or maybe the drama of the war brought out the very best in them. There is an immediacy to these selections that is lacking from most after-the-fact retrospectives.

The editing is first-rate. Oddly, no one is listed as an editor, so I suppose the credit must go to the four-person Advisory Board. As is typical of Library of America volumes, there are excellent supporting materials at the back of each book -- biographical notes, maps, notes, glossary, and so on -- and the bindings are very high quality.

All in all, these books are wonderful. If you have even a passing interest in history, I strongly recommend them. If you love reading history, they are indispensable.