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mersell's review
5.0
In the American imagination, WWII was the war we entered for righteous reasons and to righteous ends. In about every war since then, we've tried to tie our valiant, violent efforts to some higher ideal, and laud our soldiers as magnificent heroes. But the reality is: war is fraught. It's a lot of bad that can result in good, but in no way guarantees it. And even WWII, our country was never entirely on the same page about. Isolationists who wanted America to stay out of Europe's affairs were a significant part of the American populace — and we didn't join the fight until Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor made clear we weren't safe just because we were oceans away. This book is a close analysis of the attitudes Americans held toward WWII at the time, as well as the ways we've mythologized that war and the generation that fought it — in an attempt, perhaps, to avoid the discomfort that is mixed-bag reality. The author, a professor at West Point, explores film and literature contemporary to the war, along with what's been made since. She also holds up the similar revisionist understanding of the Civil War that in some senses undergirds this mythologizing. This book is a masterclass in American myth that peels back layers of imagineering to stare at the brutal reality we've been dressing up this whole time.
klinejosh94's review
4.0
"Only by the magic alchemy of American exceptionalism can war be made to see an act of love."
kkennap's review
3.0
This book was extremely informative and the claims the author made were backed up by copious amounts of evidence. It read more like a research paper, and was a bit hard to get through at times. I wish I was still in school, I’d write a killer paper using this book!
space_cat's review
jimmacsyr's review
3.0
I enjoyed the book. It gave me a lot to mull over. I particularly enjoyed the post war fil discussion and how veterans were portrayed… seems lush same portrayal of Vietnam veterans. The civil war conversation lost me a little in regards to connection with post ww2 sentiment… but the connection was eventually made.
mhorton510's review
2.0
If I was reading this book for a college class, I would probably enjoy it. But as general nonfiction it was a slog at times. I fully skipped the last chapter. Far far too many examples of films, etc. to demonstrate the arguments. There were parts I enjoyed- the Black military experience in particular. But it was so hard to read bc of the unending examples, I couldn’t get into or enjoy the positives of this book.
bucketoffish's review
3.0
This is a pretty interesting look at how American views on war have changed over time as a result of media and selective remembrance, and how such changes have affected future policy. The book focuses mainly on WWII, with some side notes on the Civil War and Vietnam. There's a broad coverage of movies, books, and political documents throughout the ages showing what mattered before the war, during the war, and afterwards. The main thread shows how WWII became a mythologized battle between good and evil in the American narrative, when this viewpoint was essentially absent both before and immediately after the war.
I'm reminded of the saying that history is written by the victors. I once saw this comparison of worldwide opinion polls about WWII from immediately after the war vs. the modern day. Right after the war, there was a very strong international consensus that the Soviet Union played the greatest part in defeating Germany. In the modern day, there's equally strong consensus that the United States played the greatest part. How much of a nation's narrative is really just made up after the fact and sold by media? Maybe we'll have a completely different view on things 300 years from now.
I'm reminded of the saying that history is written by the victors. I once saw this comparison of worldwide opinion polls about WWII from immediately after the war vs. the modern day. Right after the war, there was a very strong international consensus that the Soviet Union played the greatest part in defeating Germany. In the modern day, there's equally strong consensus that the United States played the greatest part. How much of a nation's narrative is really just made up after the fact and sold by media? Maybe we'll have a completely different view on things 300 years from now.