It has come , in other words , to represent a truer normalcy that included not only the achievements of the " greatest generation , " which are crucial to the story , but also its foibles and failures , which are equally critical in ...

Author: Michael D. Gambone

Publisher: Texas A&M University Press

ISBN: 158544488X

Category: History

Page: 300

View: 232

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At the conclusion of World War II, Americans anxiously contemplated the return to peace. It was an uncertain time, filled with concerns about demobilization, inflation, strikes, and the return of a second Great Depression. Balanced against these challenges was the hope in a future of unparalleled opportunities for a generation raised in hard times and war. One of the remarkable untold stories of postwar America is the successful assimilation of sixteen million veterans back into civilian society after 1945. The G.I. generation returned home filled with the same sense of fear and hope as most citizens at the time. Their transition from conflict to normalcy is one of the greatest chapters in American history. The Greatest Generation Comes Home combines military and social history into a comprehensive narrative of the veteran’s experience after World War II. It integrates early impressions of home in 1945 with later stories of medical recovery, education, work, politics, and entertainment, as well as moving accounts of the dislocation, alienation, and discomfort many faced. The book includes the experiences of not only the millions of veterans drawn from mainstream white America, but also the women, African Americans, Latinos, and Asian Americans who served the nation. Perhaps most important, the book also examines the legacy bequeathed by these veterans to later generations who served in uniform on new battlefields around the world.

Whatever else was happening in our family or neighborhood, there was something greater connecting all of us, ... The young Americans of this time constituted a generation birthmarked for greatness, a generation of Americans that would ...

Author: Tom Brokaw

Publisher: Random House

ISBN: 9781409002109

Category: History

Page: 448

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In this superb book, Tom Brokaw goes out into America, to tell through the stories of individual men and women the story of a generation - America's citizen heroes and heroines who came of age during the Great Depression and the Second World War and went on to build modern America. This was a generation united by common values - by duty, honour, courage, service and love of family and country. Here you'll meet people like Charles Van Gorder, who set up during D-Day a MASH-like medical facility in the middle of the fighting, and then came home to create a clinic and hospital in his hometown. You'll hear ex-President George Bush talk about how, as a Navy Air Corps combat pilot, one of his assignments was to read the mail of the enlisted men under him, to be sure no sensitive military information would be compromised. You'll meet Trudy Elion, winner of the Nobel Prize in medicine, one of the many women in this book who found fulfilling careers in the changed society as a result of the war. And you'll meet Martha Putney, one of the first black women to serve in the newly formed WACs. In the spirit of Band of Brothers, The Greatest Generation tells the stories of ordinary men and women caught up in extraordinary events - individuals united by a common purpose - working, living and dying in the service of their country.

don't believe in killing, but there is something greater than the life or death of a freedom-grabber like Hitler and his puppets. I'm in here fighting for the things freedom stands for—our church bell ringing every Sunday, ...

Author: Howard H. Peckham

Publisher: Indiana University Press

ISBN: 9780253024602

Category: History

Page: 355

View: 863

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A collection of personal letters from overseas that reveal in day-to-day detail what it was like to serve in World War II. Recounting victory and defeat, love and loss, this is a remarkable and frank collection of World War II letters penned by American men and women serving overseas. Here, the hopes and dreams of the greatest generation fill each page, and their voices ring loud and clear. “It’s all part of the game but it’s bloody and rough,” writes one soldier to his wife. “Wearing two stripes now and as proud as an old cat with five kittens,” remarks another. Yet, as many countries rejoiced on V-E Day, this book reveals that soldiers were “too tired and sad to celebrate.” Filled with the everyday thoughts of these fighters, the letters are by turns heartbreaking and amusing, revealing and frightening. While visiting a German concentration camp, one man wrote, “I don’t like Army life but I’m glad we are here to stop these atrocities.” Meanwhile, in another letter a soldier quips, “I know lice don’t crawl so I figured they were fleas.” A fitting tribute to all veterans, this book brings the experience of war—its dramatic horrors, its dreary hardships, its desperate hope for a better future—to vivid life. “An intimate portrait of the mundane and remarkable, of heroism and terror, of friendship and loss . . . Timely, compelling, and important reading.”—Matthew L. Basso, author of Men at Work

92 “Greatest Generation,” 5, 8, 51 “Green Book,” 195 Griffey, Milton, 63—64 Grimes, Dan, 39, 171 Grossman, Warren, 21 Grover, Arden, 22 Guild, Eugene, 140 Gulf War, 2, 220 Guthrie, Woody, 29 Hagerty, Press Secretary James C.

Author: Melinda L. Pash

Publisher: NYU Press

ISBN: 9780814760673

Category: History

Page: 349

View: 393

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Largely overshadowed by World War II’s “greatest generation” and the more vocal veterans of the Vietnam era, Korean War veterans remain relatively invisible in the narratives of both war and its aftermath. Yet, just as the beaches of Normandy and the jungles of Vietnam worked profound changes on conflict participants, the Korean Peninsula chipped away at the beliefs, physical and mental well-being, and fortitude of Americans completing wartime tours of duty there. Upon returning home, Korean War veterans struggled with home front attitudes toward the war, faced employment and family dilemmas, and wrestled with readjustment. Not unlike other wars, Korea proved a formative and defining influence on the men and women stationed in theater, on their loved ones, and in some measure on American culture. In the Shadow of the Greatest Generation not only gives voice to those Americans who served in the “forgotten war” but chronicles the larger personal and collective consequences of waging war the American way.

... of Boomers fall squarely in the column of greater inclusion, freedom, equality, and acceptance, and an equally large majority of Boomers hold attitudes diametrically opposed to those of their elders in the Greatest Generation.

Author: Leonard Steinhorn

Publisher: Macmillan

ISBN: 9781429909235

Category: History

Page: 336

View: 118

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The Greatest Generation gets credit for winning World War II and braving the Depression. But the Baby Boomers? All they get credit for is knowing how to order a tall skim double latte. What really is the true legacy of the Boomers? Summoning the amazing sea changes they've made in American culture, this controversial book recasts the much-maligned Boomers as a Greater Generation with a lasting legacy of tolerance and equality for all. Farewell, Donna Reed: "For women, the Baby Boom era has been one of breathtaking change—in a single generation American women have effected one of the greatest social metamorphoses in recorded history. What women are able to do today would have been unimaginable four or five decades ago, at best the stuff of utopian fantasy or science fiction." Not Only Women: "The egalitarian norms of the Baby Boom have deeply changed men and will continue to do so for generations to come." Diversity as a Moral Value: For too long, America denied blacks, gays, and other minorities their dignity and rights, but in the Boomer era we have enlarged the melting pot to include those once scorned and excluded. Boomers have led a culture war "to upend the rigid social structure of the Fifties and challenge centuries of entrenched norms and attitudes about race, ethnicity, religion, and sexuality." The Greening of America: Under Boomers, environmental protection has become a powerful new norm in American society. No longer do we tolerate toxic run-offs and progress at any cost. A Freer, More Open Society: Personal freedom, tolerance, openness, transparency, and equality—these are the values of the Baby Boom era, and we live them daily at home, work, school, and in our many relationships. The old ways—the prejudice, narrowmindedness, restrictive sex roles, smoke-filled rooms, double standards, rigid hierarchies—are going, going, gone thanks to Baby Boomers. The media have it wrong: You don't need to fight a war to be a great generation. America today is far more open, inclusive, and equal than at any time in our history, and Boomers are the foot soldiers who made it happen. The Greater Generation tells their remarkable story. "The Greater Generation is a timely, passionate defense of the Baby Boom generation. . . . Leonard Steinhorn reminds us of the essential liberal spirit that defined the Boomers and how they changed our country for the better. In doing so, he illuminates the critical issues that continue to challenge them and their children." —Joe Conason, bestselling author of Big Lies and The Hunting of the President "The Baby Boom generation changed the heart and soul of America. Leonard Steinhorn's The Greater Generation shows us how much better off we all are as a result." —Richard Florida, author of The Rise of the Creative Class "Steinhorn has written a smart and inspirational book that will be a boost to all Boomers, and will show their children why Mom and Dad know best." —Iris Krasnow, author of Surrendering to Marriage "In contrast to their parents' idealized standing as the ‘greatest generation,' Boomers have been gamely diminished as the ‘worst generation.' And this book shouts ENOUGH!" —Brent Green, author of Marketing to Leading-Edge Baby Boomers

greatest. challenges,. generations. must. work. together. for. the. common. and. greater. good. But no single generation, no matter how numerous and gifted, can change a nation or the world on its own. Even at the height of their power ...

Author: Eric H. Greenberg

Publisher: Pachatusan

ISBN: 9780982093108

Category: Democracy

Page: 257

View: 957

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The largest generation in history, the Millennial Generation are independent-- politically, socially, and philosophically-- and they are spearheading a period of sweeping change in America and around the world.

This book delves into both personal and national issues, calling into questions the dominant view of World War II as ‘The Good War’.

Author: Kenneth Rose

Publisher: Routledge

ISBN: 9781135909956

Category: History

Page: 381

View: 659

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Myth and the Greatest Generation calls into question the glowing paradigm of the World War II generation set up by such books as The Greatest Generation by Tom Brokaw. Including analysis of news reports, memoirs, novels, films and other cultural artefacts Ken Rose shows the war was much more disruptive to the lives of Americans in the military and on the home front during World War II than is generally acknowledged. Issues of racial, labor unrest, juvenile delinquency, and marital infidelity were rampant, and the black market flourished. This book delves into both personal and national issues, calling into questions the dominant view of World War II as ‘The Good War’.

Perhaps most important, the book also examines the legacy bequeathed by these veterans to later generations who served in uniform on new battlefields around the world.

Author: Michael D. Gambone

Publisher: Texas A&M University Press

ISBN: 9781603445504

Category: United States

Page: 271

View: 545

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At the conclusion of World War II, Americans anxiously contemplated the return to peace. It was an uncertain time, filled with concerns about demobilization, inflation, strikes, and the return of a second Great Depression. Balanced against these challenges was the hope in a future of unparalleled opportunities for a generation raised in hard times and war. One of the remarkable untold stories of postwar America is the successful assimilation of sixteen million veterans back into civilian society after 1945. The G.I. generation returned home filled with the same sense of fear and hope as most citizens at the time. Their transition from conflict to normalcy is one of the greatest chapters in American history. "The Greatest Generation Comes Home" combines military and social history into a comprehensive narrative of the veteran's experience after World War II. It integrates early impressions of home in 1945 with later stories of medical recovery, education, work, politics, and entertainment, as well as moving accounts of the dislocation, alienation, and discomfort many faced. The book includes the experiences of not only the millions of veterans drawn from mainstream white America, but also the women, African Americans, Latinos, and Asian Americans who served the nation. Perhaps most important, the book also examines the legacy bequeathed by these veterans to later generations who served in uniform on new battlefields around the world.

This book will become a classic of historical sociology". Steven Ruggles, Director, IPUMS Project "As a member of the Lucky Few generation, I salute Woody Carlson's masterful analysis of this nearly forgotten cohort of Americans".

Author: Elwood Carlson

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

ISBN: 9781402085413

Category: Social Science

Page: 216

View: 842

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Born during the Great Depression and World War Two (1929–1945) an entire generation has slipped between the cracks of history. These Lucky Few became the first American generation smaller than the one before them, and the luckiest generation of Americans ever. As children they experienced the most stable intact parental families in the nation’s history. Lucky Few women married earlier than any other generation of the century and helped give birth to the Baby Boom, yet also gained in education compared to earlier generations. Lucky Few men made the greatest gains of the century in schooling, earned veterans benefits like the Greatest Generation but served mostly in peacetime with only a fraction of the casualties, came closest to full employment, and spearheaded the trend toward earlier retirement. Even in retirement/old age the Lucky Few remain in the right place at the right time. Here is their story, and the story of how they have affected other recent generations of Americans before and since.

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.

Author: Everest Media,

Publisher: Everest Media LLC

ISBN: 9781669381747

Category: History

Page: 38

View: 490

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Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 I went to Normandy, France, to film an NBC documentary on the fortieth anniversary of D-Day, the Allied invasion of Europe that marked the beginning of the end of Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich. I was unprepared for how this experience would affect me emotionally. #2 The American veterans who landed on the beaches of Normandy in 1944 were all around me as I was growing up. I had never appreciated what they had been through and what they had accomplished. #3 The World War II generation was a group of men who were transformed by their experiences, but they did not volunteer their stories. I had to ask questions or stay back a step or two as they walked the beaches, quietly exchanging memories. #4 The 1984 trip to Normandy was the first time Merli and Garton had met each other, and they shared memories of the chaos and death all around them. They were both extremely determined to survive.