Book Review: When Books Went to War, part 2

When Books Went to War: The Stories That Helped Us Win World War II, by Molly Manning (Mariner Books, 2015, 304 pages, $23.15)

Part Two

What My Veterans' Book Club Thinks of When Books Went to War: The Stories that Helped Us Win WW II

I am fortunate enough to be part of a veterans’ book club at my county public library. As part of a grant, 15 military veterans receive four former-library books from different eras to read and discuss over a meal. Members of the book club include both men and women from all braches of the military, and veterans from Korea to Afghanistan.

We first read a couple of articles, followed by When Books Went To War and Love My Rifle More Than You: Young and Female in the US Army. Our final two selections will be No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission that Killed Osama bin Laden and Bringing Vincent Home, a novel about a burn victim of war.

Some of the older military history buffs in our group noticed numerous historical errors among the trivia and minutiae that were unnecessary, making it ‘reporter-y’ and a dry read.  Footnotes could have made this a more bearable read. More human-interest stories (like parables in religious writings) would have made a world of difference. The author jumped around but that was enjoyable. 

Author and attorney Molly Manning also could have added a chapter on more recent military conflicts and the presence or absence of books. For example, in 2002-03, a revival of the ASEs was published and distributed, consisting of seven book titles. And when this reviewer was deployed to Afghanistan in 2007-08 she found an abundance of Reader’s Digests and books donated by James Patterson. Soldiers could request certain items from groups of supporters back home, so this reviewer requested a book of poems by Robert Frost and a statistics textbook. We also live in the computer age so perhaps movies, phone calls back home, and books on tape are easily accessible by individuals.

To a T, we were all amazed that such a huge variety of book titles were requested and sent to troops and passed around from one to another, but, after all, drafted troops came from all groups and locations in the country and at times had idle time.

We were mixed as to whether or not we would have chosen the title, When Books Went to War, for a veterans’ book club. Some preferred to stick with personal stories like our other selections.

(Other things the group remarked on included the following: the book burnings, the successful book drives, integration and GI education, the rise of the paperback, and whether or not people donated books as part of the home front initiative or merely to junk old books)

(Read about Part One here)