eBook
hoopla Instant
WWII
Year
2014
Language
ENGLISH
Publication Information
The University of Chicago Press
Summary
In 1975, James Jones was chosen to write the text for an oversized coffee table book featuring visual art from World War II. The book was a best seller, praised for both its images and for Jones's text. In subsequent decades, when it became impossible to reproduce the book with its original artwork, it fell out of print and was forgotten. But now, this edition of WWII makes Jones's stunning text-his only extended nonfiction writing on the war-available once again. Moving chronologically and thematically through the complex history of World War II, Jones interweaves his own vivid memories of soldiering in the Pacific-from the look on a Japanese fighter pilot's face as he bombed Pearl Harbor, so close that Jones could see him smile and wave, to hitting the beach under fire in Guadalcanal-while always returning to resounding larger themes. While much of WWII is a tribute to the commitment of American soldiers, Jones also pulls no punches when recounting questionable strategic choices, wartime suffering, disorganization, the needless loss of life, and the brutal realization that a soldier is merely a cog in a heartless machine