World War II
This guide contains information on McKee Library's collection of resources relating to World War II, including recommended books for further reading, films, internet resources, podcasts, and online archives.
Perspectives
Freedom Flyers: The Tuskegee Airmen of World War II
As the country's first African American military pilots, the Tuskegee Airmen fought in World War II on two fronts: against the Axis powers in the skies over Europe and against Jim Crow racism and segregation at home. Although the pilots flew more than 15,000 sorties and destroyed more than 200German aircraft, their most far-reaching achievement defies quantification: delivering a powerful blow to racial inequality and discrimination in American life.In this inspiring account of the Tuskegee Airmen, historian J. Todd Moye captures the challenges and triumphs of these brave pilots in their own words, drawing on more than 800 interviews recorded for the National Park Service's Tuskegee Airmen Oral History Project. Denied the right to fullyparticipate in the U.S. war effort alongside whites at the beginning of World War II, African Americans - spurred on by black newspapers and civil rights organizations such as the NAACP - compelled the prestigious Army Air Corps to open its training programs to black pilots, despite the objectionsof its top generals. Thousands of young men came from every part of the country to Tuskegee, Alabama, in the heart of the segregated South, to enter the program, which expanded in 1943 to train multi-engine bomber pilots in addition to fighter pilots. By the end of the war, Tuskegee Airfield hadbecome a small city populated by black mechanics, parachute packers, doctors, and nurses. Together, they helped prove that racial segregation of the fighting forces was so inefficient as to be counterproductive to the nation's defense.Freedom Flyers brings to life the legacy of a determined, visionary cadre of African American airmen who proved their capabilities and patriotism beyond question, transformed the armed forces - formerly the nation's most racially polarized institution - and jump-started the modern struggle forracial equality.
D-Day Girls
NATIONAL BESTSELLER * The dramatic, untold history of the heroic women recruited by Britain's elite spy agency to help pave the way for Allied victory in World War II "Gripping. Spies, romance, Gestapo thugs, blown-up trains, courage, and treachery (lots of treachery)--and all of it true."--Erik Larson, author of The Devil in the White City and Dead Wake In 1942, the Allies were losing, Germany seemed unstoppable, and every able man in England was on the front lines. To "set Europe ablaze," in the words of Winston Churchill, the Special Operations Executive (SOE), whose spies were trained in everything from demolition to sharpshooting, was forced to do something unprecedented: recruit women. Thirty-nine answered the call, leaving their lives and families to become saboteurs in France. In D-Day Girls, Sarah Rose draws on recently declassified files, diaries, and oral histories to tell the thrilling story of three of these remarkable women. There's Andrée Borrel, a scrappy and streetwise Parisian who blew up power lines with the Gestapo hot on her heels; Odette Sansom, an unhappily married suburban mother who saw the SOE as her ticket out of domestic life and into a meaningful adventure; and Lise de Baissac, a fiercely independent member of French colonial high society and the SOE's unflappable "queen." Together, they destroyed train lines, ambushed Nazis, plotted prison breaks, and gathered crucial intelligence--laying the groundwork for the D-Day invasion that proved to be the turning point in the war. Rigorously researched and written with razor-sharp wit, D-Day Girls is an inspiring story for our own moment of resistance: a reminder of what courage--and the energy of politically animated women--can accomplish when the stakes seem incalculably high. Praise for D-Day Girls "Rigorously researched . . . [a] thriller in the form of a non-fiction book."--Refinery29 "Equal parts espionage-romance thriller and historical narrative, D-Day Girls traces the lives and secret activities of the 39 women who answered the call to infiltrate France. . . . While chronicling the James Bond-worthy missions and love affairs of these women, Rose vividly captures the broken landscape of war."--The Washington Post "Gripping history . . . thoroughly researched and written as smoothly as a good thriller, this is a mesmerizing story of creativity, perseverance, and astonishing heroism."--Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Five Days That Shocked the World
In the momentous days from April 28 to May 2, 1945, the world witnessed the death of two Fascist dictators and the fall of Berlin. Mussolini's capture and execution by Italian partisans, the suicide of Adolf Hitler, and the fall of the German capital signaled the end of the four-year war in the European Theater. In Five Days That Shocked the World, Nicholas Best thrills readers with the first-person accounts of those who lived through this dramatic time. In this valuable work of history, the author's special achievement is weaving together the reports of famous and soon-to-be-famous individuals who experienced the war up close. We follow a young Walter Cronkite as he parachutes into Holland with a Canadian troop; photographer Lee Miller capturing the evidence of Nazi atrocities; the future Pope Benedict returning home and hoping not to get caught and shot after deserting his infantry unit; Audrey Hepburn no longer having to fear conscription into a Wehrmacht brothel; and even an SS doctor's descriptions of a decadent sex orgy in Hitler's bunker. In skillfully synthesizing these personal narratives, Best creates a compelling chronicle of the five earth-shaking days when Fascism lost it death grip on Europe. With this vivid and fast-paced narrative, the author reaffirms his reputation as an expert on the final days of great wars.
The Pacific
The extraordinary experiences of three men and their fellow Marines take them from the first clash with the Japanese in the haunted jungles of Guadalcanal, through the impenetrable rain forests of Cape Gloucester, across the blasted coral strongholds of Peleliu, up the black sand terraces of Iwo Jima, through the killing fields of Okinawa, to the triumphant, yet uneasy, return home after V-J Day.
Un-American: The Incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II
The imprisonment of U.S. citizens: More relevant now than ever In the spring of 1942, the United States rounded up 120,000 residents of Japanese ancestry living along the West Coast and sent them to interment camps for the duration of World War II. Many abandoned their land. Many gave up their personal property. Each one of them lost a part of their lives. Amazingly, the government hired famed photographers Dorothea Lange, Ansel Adams, and others to document the expulsion--from assembling Japanese Americans at racetracks to confining them in ten camps spread across the country. Their photographs, exactly seventy-five years after the evacuation began, give an emotional, unflinching portrait of a nation concerned more about security than human rights. These photographs are more important than ever. Authors Richard Cahan and Michael Williams--noted photo historians--took a slow, careful look at each of these images as they put together a powerful history of one of America's defining moments. Their book consists of photographs that have never been seen, many of them impounded by the U.S. Army. It also uses primary source government documents to explain and place the pictures in context. And it relies on firsthand recollections of Japanese Americans survivors to offer a complete perspective. The result is one of the first visual looks at the Japanese-American internment. The story is told with brilliant pictures that help us better understand this important chapter in U.S. history.
The African American Experience During World War II
Drawing on more than thirty years of teaching and research, Neil A. Wynn combines narrative history and primary sources as he locates the World War II years within the long-term struggle for African Americans' equal rights. It is now widely accepted that these years were crucial in the development of the emerging Civil Rights movement through the economic and social impact of the war, as well as the military service itself. Wynn examines the period within the broader context of the New Deal era of the 1930s and the Cold War of the 1950s, concluding that the war years were neither simply a continuation of earlier developments nor a prelude to later change. Rather, this period was characterized by an intense transformation of black hopes and expectations, encouraged by real socio-economic shifts and departures in federal policy. Black self consciousness at a national level found powerful expression in new movements, from the demand for equality in the military service to changes in the shop floor to the "Double V" campaign that linked the fight for democracy at home for the fight for democracy abroad. As the nation played a new world role in the developing Cold War, the tensions between America's stated beliefs and actual practices emphasized these issues and brought new forces into play. More than a half century later, this book presents a much-needed up-to-date, short and readable interpretation of existing scholarship. Accessible to general and student readers, it tells the story without jargon or theory while including the historiography and debate on particular issues.
The Tango War
One ofWW2 Reads "Top 20 Must-Read WWII Books of 2018" * AChristian Science MonitorBest Book of September*One ofThe Progressive's "Favorite Books of 2018" "Masterful...not only filled with engrossing history but includes a cast of characters who could be the subject of Hollywood movies." --San Francisco Chronicle "Riveting...McConahay is a seasoned storyteller. Her stories are gripping, especially when she dives deep into little-known waters."--The Wall Street Journal "Fascinating...In McConahay's telling, wartime Latin America is a hotbed of skullduggery, violence, and cinematic propaganda straight out of Hollywood." --Christian Science Monitor The gripping and little known story of the fight for the allegiance of Latin America during World War II The Tango War by Mary Jo McConahay fills an important gap in WWII history. Beginning in the thirties, both sides were well aware of the need to control not just the hearts and minds but also the resources of Latin America. The fight was often dirty: residents were captured to exchange for U.S. prisoners of war and rival spy networks shadowed each other across the continent. At all times it was aTango War, in which each side closely shadowed the other's steps. Though the Allies triumphed, at the war's inception it looked like the Axis would win. A flow of raw materials in the Southern Hemisphere, at a high cost in lives, was key to ensuring Allied victory, as were military bases supporting the North African campaign, the Battle of the Atlantic and the invasion of Sicily, and fending off attacks on the Panama Canal. Allies secured loyalty through espionage and diplomacy--including help from Hollywood and Mickey Mouse--while Jews and innocents among ethnic groups --Japanese, Germans--paid an unconscionable price. Mexican pilots flew in the Philippines and twenty-five thousand Brazilians breached the Gothic Line in Italy.The Tango War also describes the machinations behind the greatest mass flight of criminals of the century, fascists with blood on their hands who escaped to the Americas. A true, shocking account that reads like a thriller,The Tango War shows in a new way how WWII was truly a global war.
Podcasts
The History of WWII Podcast
The History of WWII Podcast is produced and narated by Ray Harris Jr. Ray has a degree in history from James Madison University. I’ve been obsessed with the events and people from WWII since I first learned of them. I’ve been waiting years for someone to do a podcast on WWII and couldn’t wait any longer.
WW2 Podcast
With the WW2 Podcast I interview an expert on a subject. No topics are out of bounds (as yet), and I cover the military history aspect as well as looking at the home front. Hopefully the format allows for close examination of a topic, and makes for absorbing listen.
Warriors in Their Own Words
Remarkable stories of war told by those who fought for a proud nation. Their words. Their voices. Our first episodes tell riveting stories from World War II, then we move on to the Vietnam War and other dramatic conflicts.
World War II Chronicles
World War II Chronicles is a weekly look back to 'This Week in World War II, 75 Years Ago.' Originally produced in coordination with the National Archives to mark the 50th anniversary of the war, World War II Chronicles features original newsreel reports and archival footage to tell the story as it happened, week by week. Hosted by famed World War II newsreel anchor Ed Herlihy, World War II Chronicles is produced by the American Veterans Center.
Journals
- War & SocietyWar & Society publishes scholarly articles on the causes, experience and impact of war, particularly on the broader relationships between warfare and society.
- World War IIJournal focusing on World War II.
Databases
- American History, 1493-1945 This link opens in a new window
American History, 1493-1945 is a unique collection of American history documents from the earliest settlers to the mid-twentieth century. This database includes primary source documents, including images, chronologies, and documents, from 1493 to 1945.
- American National Biography This link opens in a new window
American National Biography includes portraits of 18,700 men and women -- from all eras and walks of life -- whose lives have shaped the nation.
- Britannica Original Sources This link opens in a new window
Britannica Original Sources proves your access to primary source documents from history, literature, science, law, politics, religion, and more. Original Sources gives you instant access to an extensive, continually increasing collection of thousands of classic, primary reference sources in 12 subject areas.
- Military and Government Collection This link opens in a new window
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The Military and Government Collection offers current literature for military members, analysts, policymakers, students and researchers. You will find full-text journals and periodicals pertaining to all branches of the military and government.
Streaming Media
- Ken Burns: The WarEmmy nominated documentary series THE WAR is a story of the Second World War through the personal accounts of a handful of men and women from four American towns. The war touched the lives of every family on every street in every town in American and demonstrated that in extraordinary times, there are no ordinary lives.
- World War II, Part 1: Crash CourseIn which John Green teaches you about World War II, a subject so big, it takes up two episodes. This week, John will teach you how the United States got into the war, and just how involved America was before Congress actually declared war. John will actually talk a little about the military tactics involved, and he'll get into some of the weaponry involved, specifically the huge amount of aerial bombing that characterized the war, and the atomic bombs that ended the war in the Pacific.
- World War II, Part 2: Crash CourseIn which John Green teaches you about World War 2, as it was lived on the home front. You'll learn about how the war changed the country as a whole, and changed how Americans thought about their country. John talks about the government control of war production, and how the war probably helped to end the Great Depression. A broader implementation of the income tax, the growth of large corporations, and the development of the West Coast as a manufacturing center were also results of the war. The war positivelychanged the roles of women and African Americans, but it was pretty terrible for the Japanese Americans who were interred in camps. In short, World War II changed America's role in the world, changed American life at home, and eventually spawned the History Channel.
- Every Face Has a NameIn this documentary, survivors from World War II tell their stories as they view themselves on an archive reel shot on April 28, 1945, the day they were liberated from the concentration camps. In the archive film they are anonymous faces in large crowds of refugees. But they all have a name. And they all have a story to tell. Stories about escape, survival and starting life again.
Knowledge Exchange Oral Histories
- Oral Histories: World War IIWorld War II oral histories completed by Southern Adventist University students.