Let the good times roll: Life at home in America during World War II - Hardcover

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For the millions of men and women who donned uniforms in World War II, millions more stayed at home. Many who remained stateside enjoyed the easy money generated by government contracts. Casdorph contends this was the era of a "what-the-hell" attitude, which meant "let the good times roll." His narrative is a reflection of wartime America, with patriotic entertainers, the creative genius of John Steinbeck, and baseball, the national pastime. Simultaneously, there were race riots in Detroit and Harlem, labor stoppages, rationing, and tragic aviation accidents. Chronologically organized by years, and months, this is very well-written and often provocative. Preferable to Alan M. Winkler's Home Front USA (Harlan Davidson, 1986), Mark J. Harris's The Homefront (LJ 2/15/84), or Archie Satterfield's The Home Front (LJ 12/15/81), this is popular history at its best; recommended for most collections.
- Boyd Childress, Auburn Univ . Lib . , Alabama
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

A history professor at West Virginia State College, Casdorph shows that paradoxical good cheer animated the American home front from 1941 to 1945, but he offers no new enlightenment. His social and cultural history juxtaposes discussions of sugar and tire rationing, scrap metal and wastepaper drives and the disruption of homelife with accounts of the unprecedented widespread employment of blacks and women in diverse sectors of the economy, Hollywood scandals and celebrity romances, the rise of Frank Sinatra as a bobby-soxer idol, and wartime weddings. Frequent asides document the military campaign overseas. In less than 240 pages, Casdorph sweeps through these significant times, providing an interesting albeit cursory portrait. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.