What a fascinating book Molly Guptill Manning has written: When Books Went To War: The Stories That Helped Us Win World War II (#566). She shines a spotlight on a movement to get books into the hands of soldiers and sailors during World War II that united civilians, librarians, publishers, the military, and yes, even the Congress! Since Germany burned books, culled libraries and banned authors, they were waging total war on their own populace as well as the enemy. The United States responded by supplying books, books and more books, a tremendous morale boost to isolated soldiers and sailors. How this was managed under war time restrictions is an amazing story of cooperation.
Although I wasn't born until after World War II, I wonder why I've never heard of either the Victory Book Campaign, or its successor, the Council on Books in Wartime. The response from those who received the Armed Services Editions (ASE) books in their compact, lightweight versions was overwhelming. These books literally changed lives both during and after the War.
Ms. Manning has included pictures in her book, but I thought the most interesting addition was an appendix listing the books that were released to the GIs each month. It's surprising how many of the books the military enjoyed are still popular today, in print, as well as in movie versions. Do yourself a favor and read this book about a time when the United States was truly united waging war as best it could on the home front by supplying the troops with the weapons of ideas.
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