United States in World War II - Paperback

by G. Kurt Piehler (Editor)

This reader brings together 78 primary documents that capture the diversity of experiences of Americans who lived through World War II, from presidents and generals to war workers and GIs.

• Illustrates the political, diplomatic and military history of the conflict, including well-known documents, such as the Atlantic Charter and Franklin Roosevelt's Congressional address requesting a declaration of war against Japan
• Highlights the far-reaching economic, social and cultural changes caused by the war, such as the struggles to find day care for the children of women war workers, and the experiences returning veterans
• Includes an introduction, document headnotes and questions at the end of each chapter designed to encourage students to engage with the material critically

Back Jacket

World War II profoundly changed America: not only did it serve as the impetus for far-reaching changes in all aspects of life at home, but it also dramatically altered the perception of America internationally. This reader offers 78 essential primary documents for the period 1939-1945 that illustrate the political, diplomatic, and military history of the conflict while also highlighting the important economic, social, and cultural changes.

Editor G. Kurt Piehler captures the diversity of experiences of Americans who lived through the war, including the perspectives of presidents and generals, war workers and GIs, women and men, African Americans and Asian Americans, and refugees fleeing Hitler's Germany. It includes such documents as the Atlantic Charter and Franklin Roosevelt's Congressional address requesting a declaration of war against Japan, as well as readings on the experiences of GIs on the home front, the struggle to find day care for the children of women war workers, debates over the American response to the Holocaust, and the quest for justice by ethnic, racial, and religious minorities.

Bringing together well-known documents that are crucial to any study of the period with many enlightening documents that have never been published, The United States in World War II offers a balanced account of the social and political forces that combined to make the American war experience unique and transformative.

Author Biography

G. Kurt Piehler is Associate Professor of History at Florida State University. He is author of Remembering War the American Way (1995) and World War II (2007) and co-editor of Major Problems in American Military History (1999), The Atomic Bomb and American Society: New Perspectives (2009), and The Second World War: New Perspectives on Diplomacy, War, and the Home Front (2010).