- Hardcover: 589 pages
- Publisher: Pantheon Books; First Edition edition (Sep 1984)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0394531035
- ISBN-13: 978-0394531038
- Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 16 x 4.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 697,464 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
With an unequalled ear for the voices of ordinary Americans, Terkel dramatically yet intimately captures the responses to the war from sea-plane pilots and Chicago street kids to journalists, architects, a mountain woman, policemen, film makers, a paper-mill worker, cabdrivers and a host of others. 'Deeply moving and profoundly important' Alan Brinkley, Boston Globe
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From the Publisher
Simon Schama explains why this is one of his favourites...
Terkel’s riveting books are history raw (rather than cooked) the spoken voices, sharp and unsentimental, quite unclouded by the vapours of epic self-aggrandisement or the bitters of cynicism.
Terkel’s riveting books are history raw (rather than cooked) the spoken voices, sharp and unsentimental, quite unclouded by the vapours of epic self-aggrandisement or the bitters of cynicism.
This one is the perfect antidote to military heroics. "World War II for me is a sore asshole" says Eddie Costello the seaplane pilot and bomber "four years of nervous diarrhoea".
Terkel is in no doubt of the ultimate goodness of this particular war but he’s equally undeluded by nostalgia. Reading the book is like wandering into the reunion from hell - but you’re glad you’ve come all the same. Otherwise you’d never have met E.B. "Sledgehammer" Sledge, who owns up to knocking off wounded Japanese to knock out their gold teeth, but who reads Wilfred Owen in the foxholes of Okinawa, or Ray Wax, infantryman and showman, part Mailer, part Minderbinder, who builds Patton’s Third a movie theatre "I went to my drunken colonel who was marvellous and asked him for a two and a half ton truck. The army always said, Never volunteer. F**k ‘em. I always volunteered. He gave me the truck and I carried these six sections of prefabricated flooring. Everywhere I went I could drop down and I had a stage. I put that stage all across France. I put on Dinah Shore. I put on Bing Crosby.." --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book helped me understand myself and my parents' generation in ways I never considered possible. Reading it was like taking a guided tour through the no-man's-land between idealism and despair. I'm no great history book fan, but I'd definitely recommend this one to readers of every age, nationality, and background. You will not be disappointed.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I found this easy to read. The book presented many aspects of the time. Some peoples accounts of famous events like Pearl Harbour were fresh and relevant. Don't expect a balanced view of the war nor the truth. What you do get is tales as interesting for what they leave out as put in. The book opens very much in the style of Saving Private Ryan with stories of bullets, bombs and carnage. There are definite themes such as treatment of the American-Japanese community on the home front, the Afro-American troops story, Women and the war and the Atomic bomb and it's impact and effects. The book never concludes anything though there is a narrator prescence here and there in the pages. The analysis of these oral histories is for the reader. I found it showed how tough the human condition is. On the whole most participants in the war felt the A-bomb should have been dropped. Only japanese felt otherwise ! The turn around in foreign policy from Russia as an Allie to enemy No.1 was also quite noticeable. The relatively lenient treatment of the Germans involved in war crimes was also highlighted for me. It's a bit like the freeing of terrorist prisoners here and in Northern Ireland under the Good Friday Peace Agreement. My main hope is that there is a good peace now 'The Troubles' are ended.
Format:Paperback
The Good War: An Oral History of World War 11 by Studs Terkel (Book Review)
This bestseller by Studs Terkel was republished in 1997 by New Press. It won The Pulitzer Prize for non fiction and rightly so. The author presents over 120 interviews with people of all classes and all levels of involvement in World War 11. He interviews people both famous and infamous from both sides to give us as many perspectives as possible. It is a unique collection of primary sources on World War 11 and it is moving and very thought provoking. It is not an easy read and must be read in stages to ponder the true significance of the experiences of those involved. This oral history addresses the perceived notion that World War 11 was a good war. He proves that the Nazis needed to be defeated but there is no good war and no bad peace. In different voices the survivors tell of the impact and everlasting implications the war had on them. I do believe he was selective on who he interviewed but that is not important it gives us many other points of views. The book is confirming the authors own views on pacifism and it is an important historical document for anybody remotely interested in World War 11. Newsday describes it best as:" a vivid resurrection of a lost time". It recounts the true cost of war and so as a primary source it is a highly recommended for those who are even remotely interested in history. Reviewed by Annette Dunlea author of Always and Forever and The Honey Trap.
This bestseller by Studs Terkel was republished in 1997 by New Press. It won The Pulitzer Prize for non fiction and rightly so. The author presents over 120 interviews with people of all classes and all levels of involvement in World War 11. He interviews people both famous and infamous from both sides to give us as many perspectives as possible. It is a unique collection of primary sources on World War 11 and it is moving and very thought provoking. It is not an easy read and must be read in stages to ponder the true significance of the experiences of those involved. This oral history addresses the perceived notion that World War 11 was a good war. He proves that the Nazis needed to be defeated but there is no good war and no bad peace. In different voices the survivors tell of the impact and everlasting implications the war had on them. I do believe he was selective on who he interviewed but that is not important it gives us many other points of views. The book is confirming the authors own views on pacifism and it is an important historical document for anybody remotely interested in World War 11. Newsday describes it best as:" a vivid resurrection of a lost time". It recounts the true cost of war and so as a primary source it is a highly recommended for those who are even remotely interested in history. Reviewed by Annette Dunlea author of Always and Forever and The Honey Trap.
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