Showing posts with label wwii pacific. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wwii pacific. Show all posts

1/02/2013

American Women And World War II (History of Women in America) Review

American Women And World War II (History of Women in America)
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Weatherford starts well but then throws out the pattern from the first chapter and gets worse by the mouthful. She uses a great deal of personal diary entries in the book which general depict a woman's frustration with her role or world and then Weatherford puts herself in the woman's shoes. For almost every "fact" that she delivers, she then adds her own take on the facts and the woman's position. Weatherford pretty soon becomes one of the diarist's angry entries page after page. For example, she repeatedly uses very petulant phrases like "once again," "finally," "sadly," "unfortunately" and the like to beat the dead horse. She also summarizes situations by making apocalyptic judgments on her data or topic, such as (p. 187) "the government ultimately could have saved itself billions of dollars in welfare costs if it had undertaken then to see that women's wages were raised to a reasonable level" and (p. 272) "Like millions of bright women before and after the war who were forced by their husbands' careers into military and college towns too small for their abilities. . ." Almost every woman described in this book gave 110% for thankless endeavors, got a crust of bread at day's end, walked two miles thru snow daily to reach her job, managed every chore under the sun without complaint, and then went to bed feeling tired but proud that she helped the war effort. Almost every man described in this book is a thoughtless bureaucrat unable to match a woman to a perfect role or place, a faithless husband or GI, a chauvinist -- an idiot in short. ONCE AGAIN, Weatherford editorializes every point and exaggerates every conclusion. The book has some merits and opened my eyes to a few things, but by and large this is hardly an objective account, but rather a tiresome tirade on the old theme of how perfect the world would be if women ruled and men silently followed orders.

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This social history focuses on the role American women played in the workforce during World War II. It describes the huge mobilization of labour necessary to supply US armed forces with machinery and weapons, and the evolution of women's roles in industry as a result of this.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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12/01/2012

Red Scorpion: The War Patrols of the USS Rasher Review

Red Scorpion: The War Patrols of the USS Rasher
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This book provides a wonderful protrayal of life onboard a WW II fleet submarine. The essential facts about a submarine's systems, equipment and operational environment are carried forth on top of the human experience of a submarine sailor. The author provides abundant technical detail without ever losing site of the human aspects of war. Through the use of abundant first person information from the veterans themselves this book comes alive and makes you feel as if you are part of the crew. For me this is WW II history at its best. While this book is a specific history of a single submarine it also provides a representative picture of life aboard a WW II submarine. Such unit and ship's histories are so much more readable than the battle monographs or big picture campaign histories that the publishers seem to prefer.

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5/07/2012

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption Review

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption
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I read this book in two days flat and I know that, had I had the time, I would have read it in one sitting. This is a book that grips you, draws you in and leaves you feeling a slightly better person for having read it.
The story is that of Louie Zamperini - a track and field star of the 1930's, who participated in the Berlin olympics, was part of the US air force in WWII, was shot down over the ocean, was adrift in the Pacific for over a month, was held as a POW by the Japanese forces and finally made it back to his life and has had the courage to live it to its fullest.
Hillenbrand is a marvellous author. I was never tempted to read Seabiscuit and this was my first introduction to her work. She is one of a few authors who can write a non fiction story in the most gripping and vivid way imaginable. Instead of being flowery or overly embellished her prose relies squarely on research and on witness accounts and yet manages to never be dull. The swiftly moving story takes the reader from Zamperini's early beginnings, his swift rise to track star, the Berlin olympics and then to the World War. This is where the story really blooms. Hillenbrand settles in for the long haul here and we get to see the air force and the B24 bombers through the words of the men who actually flew them. The sequences where Zamperini and his friend Phil are adrift at sea are vivid and strangely beautifully described. The horrors that await them at the Japanese prison camps are not glossed over but neither does Hillenbrand wallow in the gore and violence as some authors may be tempted to do. There is always a strong sense of the respect the author holds for the men whose story she is being allowed to tell.
History has perhaps focused its eye too exclusively on the war in Europe to the extent where the situation in the Pacific and the plight of POW's there has not recieved the attention and the respect it deserves. Hillenbrand's book and detailed research certainly makes a strong attempt to change that.
Solidly based on statistics and army reports from both sides of the war, Hillenbrands book paints a clear picture of the hellish conditions that the POW's endured and the utter madness of the war that was being waged in the Pacific. This is a hard story to read but one that is well worth it. The falling apart of Louie's life and his slow path to regaining his life and sense of purpose is a story that is truly inspiring. This book will find a permanent place of honor on my bookshelf.


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