| Soldier from the War Returning: The Greatest Generation's Troubled Homecoming from World War II Contributor(s): Childers, Thomas (Author) |
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ISBN: 0547336926 ISBN-13: 9780547336923 Publisher: Mariner Books OUR PRICE: $20.89 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: May 2010 |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - History | United States - 20th Century - History | Social History - History | Modern - 20th Century |
| Dewey: 940.531 |
| Physical Information: 1.1" H x 5.3" W x 8" (0.65 lbs) 368 pages |
| Themes: - Chronological Period - 1940's - Chronological Period - 20th Century |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: One of our most enduring national myths surrounds the men and women who fought in the so-called Good War. The Greatest Generation, we're told by Tom Brokaw and others, fought heroically, then returned to America happy, healthy and well-adjusted. They quickly and cheerfully went on with the business of rebuilding their lives. In this shocking and hauntingly beautiful book, historian Thomas Childers shatters that myth. He interweaves the intimate story of three families--including his own--with a decades' worth of research to paint an entirely new picture of the war's aftermath. Drawing on government documents, interviews, oral histories and diaries, he reveals that 10,000 veterans a month were being diagnosed with psycho-neurotic disorder (now known as PTSD). Alcoholism, homelessness, and unemployment were rampant, leading to a skyrocketing divorce rate. Many veterans bounced back, but their struggle has been lost in a wave of nostalgia that threatens to undermine a new generation of returning soldiers. Novelistic in its telling and impeccably researched, Childers's book is a stark reminder that the price of war is unimaginably high. The consequences are human, not just political, and the toll can stretch across generations. |
Contributor Bio(s): Childers, Thomas: - THOMAS CHILDERS is the Sheldon and Lucy Hackney Professor of History at the University of Pennsylvania. He is the author of several books on the Third Reich and World War II. |