The WTBBL Book Club will host a noontime brownbag discussion of the Human Comedy by William Saroyan on December 8. This book is about the World War II home front in a California town.This month’s Recommended Reads features other books about the home fronts in World Warr II. These home fronts range from the Washington coast to New york City to Vienna. You’ll meet Nisei internees, nuclear scientists, a German dwarf, and time travelers caught in the London Blitz.
Dream When You're Feeling Blue by Elizabeth Berg
Chicago, 1940s. Kitty and Louise Heaney see their boyfriends off to fight in World War II, while their younger sister Tish has fun dancing and flirting at USO events. Letters to and from loved ones reveal events at home and on the battlefront. Some descriptions of sex and some strong language. 2007. Braille Book BR 17718. Cassette Book RC 63750. Digital Book DB 63750 is available as a downloadable book from BARD: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.nls/db.63750.
American Home Front: 1941-1942 by Alistair Cooke
Account of British American journalist's trip across the United States during the 1940s to assesses the country's transition from the Depression into a war economy. Portrays migrating workers in Indiana, African Americans in the discriminatory South, and interned Japanese Americans in California. Some strong language. 2007. Cassette Book RC 69407. Digital Book DB 69407. Also available as a downloadable digital book from BARD: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.nls/db.69407.
Helluva Town: The Story of New York City during World War II by Richard Goldstein.
This social history of New York City during World War II provides firsthand accounts from civilians, celebrities, and politicians who lived in the port that hosted more than three million servicemen on their way to combat. Discusses the city's transformation into an international powerhouse. Some strong language. 2010. Digital Book DB 72628. Also available as a downloadable digital book from BARD: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.nls/db.72628.
The Tin Drum by Gunter Grass.
Mental institution inmate and indomitable drummer Oskar Matzerath, who chose to stop growing at age three, writes his memoirs of Danzig, Germany, during the Nazi regime. Picturesque, Kafka-like novel of Nazi Germany that reflects the public and private immorality of the country. A biting and artistic satire. Cassette Book RC 11512. A newer translation is available as Digital Book DB 71622. Also available as downloadable digital book from BARD: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.nls/db.71622.This book is also available in a German language edition, Die Blechtrommel, RC 26722. Also available as a downloadable digital book from BARD: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.nls/db.26722.
Cohassett Beach Chronicles: World War II in the Pacific Northwest by Kathy Hogan.
A collection of wartime newspaper columns, originally published in the Grays Harbor Post, chronicling domestic life in Cohassett Beach and nearby towns like Westport and Grayland. Humorously covers topics like Victory Gardens, rationing, and the interaction of soldiers and civilians. 1995. Cassette Book CBA 7274. Digital Book 7274. Also available as downloadable digital book from WTBBL: http://www.wtbbl.org/login.aspx.
The Manhattan Project: The Birth of the Atomic Bomb in the Words of Its Creators, Eyewitnesses, and Historians edited by Cynthia C. Kelly.
Atomic Heritage Foundation's collection of writings, first-hand accounts, and oral histories of original Manhattan Project team members and leading historians. Includes material by or about J. Robert Oppenheimer, Leo Szilard, Albert Einstein, Klaus Fuchs, Vannevar Bush, Richard Feynman, Leslie R. Groves, Niels Bohr, and many more. 2007. Cassette Book RC 69012. Digital Book DB 69012. Also available as a downloadable book from BARD: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.nls/db.69012.
Nisei Daughter by Monica Sone.
The author spent her childhood in pre-World War II Seattle, in a part Japanese, part American world. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, she and her family are sent to an internment camp in Topaz, Idaho. Her family attempts to maintain their values and ethics amidst the barbed wire and armed guards, demonstrating the conflict between the loss of their civil rights and their love of their adopted country. 1953. Braille Book BRW 1296. Cassette Book CBA 7274.
The War: An Intimate History, 1941-1945 by Geoffrey C. Ward.
Companion volume to the PBS television documentary chronicles the Second World War using personal anecdotes. Focuses on four towns--Luverne, Minnesota; Sacramento, California; Waterbury, Connecticut; and Mobile, Alabama--and the citizens who experience the conflict on the home front and on the battlefield. Commercial audiobook. Violence and strong language. 2007. Braille Book BRW 1395 is in process at WTBBL. Cassette Book RC 64973. Digital Book DB 64973 is available as a downloadable book from BARD: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.nls/db.64973.
The Setting of the Pearl: Vienna under Hitler by Thomas Weyr.
The author, who was a child in Vienna during World War II, chronicles the destruction of the city's culture after Austria joined Nazi Germany in 1938. Uses archives, interviews, and his own memories to describe the removal of the Jewish population and the demise of the capitol's vibrancy. Violence. 2005. Cassette Book RC 61815. Digital Book DB 61815 is available as a downloadable book from BARD: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.nls/db.61815.
Blackout by Connie Willis.
Oxford, 2060. Time-traveling historians Michael, Eileen, and Polly journey to the London Blitz of 1940 only to encounter scheduling glitches and problems with their technology. Matters get worse when the three colleagues realize that their previously held belief--that they are not able to change history--is wrong. Winner of the Hugo and Nebula awards for best science fiction novel. Its sequel, All Clear, (DB 73333) is in process at NLS. Some violence. 2010. Digital Book DB 71904. Also available as a downloadable book from BARD: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.nls/db.71904.
Our Mothers' War: American Women at Home and at the Front during World War II by Emily Yellin.
Journalist's chronicle of World War II's "other American soldiers," women from various backgrounds who filled nontraditional roles during wartime. Depicts women factory workers, frontline nurses, spies, and pilots. Also discusses the experiences of African American and Japanese American women. 2004. Braille Book BR 15667. Cassette Book RC 58820. Large Print Book LP 21191. Digital Book DB 58820 is available as a downloadable book from BARD: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.nls/db.58820.