Library Catalog
On the Shelf at CCBC Libraries
Wartime America by
Designed to give students a concise compass to probe the history of World War II America and to assess the war's impact on American life, the new edition of Wartime America retains the framework of the original edition but adds new important focus on topics such as other home fronts, the lives of veterans, expanded coverage of World War II as the Good War, and the concept of "the Greatest Generation."Jeffries paints a picture of a people emerging from the Great Depression and eager for a better life, yet often reluctant to abandon the touchstones of their past. Combining both an original interpretation and synthesis of recent scholarship, Wartime America offers students a concise exploration of the war's transformative role in American life.
Call Number: D769 .J44 2018
Uprooted by
On the 75th anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor comes a harrowing and enlightening look at the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II- from National Book Award finalist Albert Marrin Just seventy-five years ago, the American government did something that most would consider unthinkable today- it rounded up over 100,000 of its own citizens based on nothing more than their ancestry and, suspicious of their loyalty, kept them in concentration camps for the better part of four years. How could this have happened? Uprooted takes a close look at the history of racism in America and carefully follows the treacherous path that led one of our nation's most beloved presidents to make this decision. Meanwhile, it also illuminates the history of Japan and its own struggles with racism and xenophobia, which led to the bombing of Pearl Harbor, ultimately tying the two countries together. Today, America is still filled with racial tension, and personal liberty in wartime is as relevant a topic as ever. Moving and impactful, National Book Award finalist Albert Marrin's sobering exploration of this monumental injustice shines as bright a light on current events as it does on the past.
Call Number: D769.8.A6 M329 2016
West Point History of World War II by
An outstanding new military history of the first half of World War II, featuring a rich array of images, exclusive graphics, superb new maps, and expert analysis commissioned by the United States Military Academy to teach the art of war to West Point cadets. Since 1836, United States Military Academy texts have been the gold standard for teaching military history and the operational art of war. Now the USMA has developed a new military history series for the public featuring the story of World War II in two volumes, of which this is the first. The West Point History of World War II combines the expertise of preeminent historians with hundreds of maps and images, many created for this volume or selected from Army collections. The first volume offers a balanced narrative analyzing the rising tide of Axis conquest from 1939 to mid-1942, ranging from battlefield decisions to operational and strategic plans, all set in their proper political context. The closing chapter provides a thematic treatment of the mobilization of the warring nations' economies and home fronts for the conduct of total war. The West Point History of World War II has been tested, checked, and polished by West Point cadets, faculty, and graduates to make this the best military history of its kind.
Call Number: D743 .W445
Those Angry Days by
"NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER From the acclaimed author of Citizens of London comes the definitive account of the debate over American intervention in World War II a bitter, sometimes violent clash of personalities and ideas that divided the nation and ultimately determined the fate of the free world. t the center of this controversy stood the two most famous men in America- President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who championed the interventionist cause, and aviator Charles Lindbergh, who as unofficial leader and spokesman for America's isolationists emerged as the president's most formidable adversary. Their contest of wills personified the divisions within the country at large, and Lynne Olson makes masterly use of their dramatic personal stories to create a poignant and riveting narrative. While FDR, buffeted by political pressures on all sides, struggled to marshal public support for aid to Winston Churchill's Britain, Lindbergh saw his heroic reputation besmirched and his marriage thrown into turmoil by allegations that he was a Nazi sympathizer. panning the years 1939 to 1941, Those Angry Days vividly re-creates the rancorous internal squabbles that
Call Number: D753 .O47 2014
Partners in Command by
The depth and significance of the relationship between George Marshall and Dwight Eisenhower has eluded historians for years. In Partners in Command, acclaimed historian and journalist Mark Perry gets to the heart of arguably the most fateful partnership in American military history, a union of two very different men bound by an epic common purpose. He follows Marshall and Eisenhower's collaboration from the major battles in North Africa and Italy to the planning and execution of the D-Day invasion, the crisis of the Battle of the Bulge, and the postwar implementation of the Marshall Plan, and the establishment of Eisenhower's leadership of NATO. erry shows that Marshall and Eisenhower were remarkably close colleagues who brilliantly combined strengths and offset each other's weaknesses in their strategic planning, on the battlefields, and in their mutual struggle to overcome the bungling, political sniping, and careerism of both British and American commanders that infected nearly every battle and campaign. Finally, Marshall and Eisenhower collaborated in crafting the foreign policy and military infrastructure that became the foundation for winning the Cold War. From their first meeting after Pearl Harbor in 1941, Marshall and Eisenhower recognized in each other an invaluable military partner-by February 1942, Marshall, who was Army chief of staff, had promoted Eisenhower to head the War Plans Division, where his first job was to write the initial plan to win the war against Japan. Within a few months, Marshall selected Eisenhower as commander of all U.S. forces in the European theater. By early 1944, however, a subtle but major shift had occurred: Marshall the teacher had become Eisenhower's student, Eisenhower having developed the superior grasp of command challenges. Partners in Commandis an extraordinary portrait of an often ignored alliance between two iconic military figures and the ways in which their unusual collaboration would ultimately shape fifty years of successful American foreign policy.
Call Number: D769 .P476 2007
Podcasts
Census Information
Streaming Video
- World War II: Breadlines to BoomtimesA rare look at how a nation of men and women mobilized to convert the U.S. economy into a war machine, emerging as the most powerful country in the world. Hosted by James B. Sikking.
- Freedom Flyers of Tuskegee
Before there was a Civil Rights Movement in the Unites States of America, there were the actions of the Tuskegee Airmen.
Many African American men and women were aviators in the early 1930's, but established military policy forbade them from flying. However, as World War II loomed, there was heavy pressure from black organizations and leaders such as the NAACP, A. Phillip Randolph (head of the Brotherhood of Sleeping-Car Porter's Union), Dr. W.E.B. DuBois, and some journalists to offer U.S. Army pilot training to black United States citizens.
Over 950 African American men became fighter pilots at the Tuskegee Army Airfield during World War II. By war's end,the Tuskegee Airmen were awarded 150 Distinguished Flying Crosses, 744 Air Medals and Clusters, numerous Legions of Merit, the Red Star of Yugoslavia and a Presidential Unit Citation.
This is the story of their struggle to be accepted as World War II United States Army Air Corps pilots, and their fight to defend a country that denied them some of their rights and civil liberties.
Websites
- Significant Events of World War II
from U.S. Department of Defense - How did Public Opinion About Entering World War II Change Between 1939 and 1941?
from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Primary Resources
- World War II
from Library of Congress - Pictures of African Americans During World War II
from the National Archives
Online From CCBC Libraries
Pearl Harbor and the Day of Infamy by
Starting with the background of Japan's rise to military prominence and the Asian country's aggressive behavior against its neighbors, this graphic history covers all the significant events leading up to that fateful aerial attack on December 7, 1941. Japan's simultaneous surprise attacks in the Philippines and elsewhere in Asia and the Pacific are included, as is America's reaction to the bombing of Hawaii. Also includes the introduction to a serialized adventure graphic novel set during the War in the Pacific entitled Separated by War.
Publication Date: 2017
Two Fronts, One War by
War is the story of individuals painted into a broader tapestry of overpowering events. While examining the wider historical perspective to lay the foundation, this book relates the individual stories of the Second World War - of Allied bomber pilots shot down over Germany, of American dogfaces fighting to grip a toehold on Iwo Jima, of men struggling for survival during the Bataan Death March, of tankers in Europe and pilots who flew the first B-29s against Japan's mainland, of incredible feats of heroism and self-sacrifice, even of great wartime romances. The author interviewed more than two dozen U.S. veterans for this book. Most of these stories have never before been published. Together, they provide a true account of what the war was really like for those individuals who actually fought it on the two main fronts of the war - Europe and the South Pacific. AUTHOR: Charles W. Sasser is a veteran of both the U.S. Navy (journalist) and U.S. Army (Special Forces, the Green Berets). His many other books include 'Raider and Patton's Panthers', and he was a contributor to Frontline's 'The Sniper Anthology'. 16 pages of plates
Publication Date: 2014
Roosevelt's Second ACT: the Election of 1940 and the Politics of War by
"In Roosevelt's Second Act Richard Moe has shown in superb fashion that what might seem to have been an inevitable decision of comparatively little interest was far from it." --David McCullough On August 31, 1939, nearing the end of his second and presumably final term in office, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was working in the Oval Office and contemplating construction of his presidential library and planning retirement. The next day German tanks had crossed the Polish border; Britain and France had declared war. Overnight the world had changed, and FDR found himself being forced to consider a dramatically different set of circumstances. In Roosevelt's Second Act, Richard Moe focuses on a turning point in American political history: FDR's decision to seek a third term. Often overlooked between the passage and implementation of the New Deal and the bombing of Pearl Harbor, that decision was far from inevitable. As the election loomed, he refused to comment, confiding in no one, scrambling the politics of his own party; but after the Republicans surprisingly nominated Wendell Willkie in July 1940, FDR became convinced that no other Democrat could both maintain the legitimacy of the New Deal and mobilize the nation for war. With Hitler on the verge of conquering Europe, Roosevelt, still hedging, began to maneuver his way to the center of the political stage. Moe offers a brilliant depiction of the duality that was FDR: the bold, perceptive, prescient and moral statesman who set lofty and principled goals, and the sometimes cautious, ambitious, arrogant and manipulative politician in pursuit of them. Immersive, insightful and written with an inside understanding of the presidency, this book challenges and illuminates our understanding of FDR and this pivotal moment in American history.
Publication Date: 2013
America in the Forties by
In America in the Forties, Goldberg energetically argues that the decade of the 1940s was one of the most influential in American history: a period marked by war, sacrifice, and profound social changes. With superb detail, Goldberg traces the entire decade from the first stirrings of war in a nation consumed by the Great Depression to the conflicts with Europe and Japan to the start of the Cold War and the dawn of the atomic age. Richly drawn portraits of the period's charismatic, brilliant, and often controversial leaders-Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Harry Truman-demonstrate their immense importance in shaping the era and, in turn, the course of American government, politics, and society. Goldberg chronicles U.S. heroic accomplishments during World War II and the early Cold War, showing how these military and diplomatic achievements helped lay the foundation for the country's current role in economic and military affairs worldwide. Combining an engrossing narrative with intelligent analysis, America in the Forties enriches our understanding of that pivotal era.
Publication Date: 2012
Museums
- National WWII Museum
Databases
- U.S. History This link opens in a new window
Articles, essays, and primary sources on the history of the United States. - ProQuest Central This link opens in a new window
Articles on any subject. This is a good place to start.
- ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Baltimore Sun This link opens in a new window
Primary source articles covering the politics, society and events of the time period 1837 - 1992.
- JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Journals, books, images, and primary sources about many subjects.
