United States. War Department (1789-1947)

Endlessly fascinating for browsing, and still the BIGGEST book I own. Even though I have long recovered from my brief infatuation with reading about the civil war, I still drag this book out sometimes and find myself lost in it for a while. By the way, I think the Civil War has broken even by now. The tourism income and dollars from the Civil War industry have put more into the American economy (even accounting for the time value of money) than 5 years of brother-against-brother bloodshed show more took out of it! Why are we so fascinated by the Civil War anyway? Why do we treat it as a tale of dedication, patriotism, and courage rather than the national tragedy it was (and still is)? show less

The U.S. War Department (now known rather euphemistically as the Department of Defense) put this book together immediately after the attack on Pearl Harbor that finally brought the U.S. into World War 2. The War Department evidently assumed that cadets at the U.S. Military Academy (a.k.a. West Point) needed to be brought up to speed about what had been going on in the world over the past 10 years or so. The book contains a chapter apiece about the war up until that time. The Japanese show more invasion of China and other pre-Pearl Harbor activities in the Pacific get a couple of chapters, and there's a chapter each for the Nazi invasions of Norway, Poland and France, the Battle of Britain and the Battle of the Atlantic, among others. There will be very little that's new here for folks who are up to speed on their WW2 military history, although the book might serve as a good primer for those who haven't read much on the topic. The writing and explanations are generally clear and straightforward. There's more than a bit of a propaganda element going on here, you won't be surprised to learn. The snafus that were part of the English Army's attempts to help the Norwegians fight off the German invasion and the inept defense of France are both pretty much whitewashed, for example. At any rate, copies of this book were evidently handed out to West Point cadets. It's unclear to me whether there was any further distribution of the book, although if not, the volume does represent a pretty impressive effort all told for such a small (in numbers, anyway) an audience. show less

A curious little book, brought out as a stocking filler by the Bodleian Library first in 1994 and then again this last autumn. It's printed on 'economy' paper and the binding is brown-paper. It was typeset by an ex-colleague (which means I'm a little more critical of the typos than I might otherwise be - it's hard to know if these are faithful reproductions of the original errors or just mistakes, without going down to Rhodes House and attempting to see the original pamphlet. Anyway, it's show more full of fascinating stuff that was truly given to GIs in an attempt to avoid domestic scuffles while they were over here! Things like 'Remember there's a war on. Britain may look a little shop-worn and grimy to you. The British people are anxious for you to know that you are not seeing their country at its best. There's been a war on since 1939. The houses haven't been painted because factories are not making paint. ... the British people are anxious for you to know that in normal times Britain looks much prettier, cleaner, neater.' A really funny little book from a modern perspective but also good for giving one a glimpse of what it was like 60 years ago, and how odd we must have seemed, as a nation, to outsiders. (And how paranoid the US government must have been about the potential behaviour of their soldiers! Some of this stuff is so common-sense it's practically insulting their intelligence.)
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Just what the title says, this is a booklet that was distributed to American GI’s before they went to England in 1942 to brace them for what to expect once over there, and to provide guidelines for how to behave. It turns out it’s good advice for anyone visiting a foreign country, essentially a reminder to be polite and respectful of the host’s culture that the stereotypical “ugly American” tourist of today would do well to heed. The book is a reflection of both British culture and show more America’s, as the image formed comes from both the object under study and the lens through which it’s viewed. The language from the time is also sometimes cute.

Quotes:
“Don’t be misled by the British tendency to be soft-spoken and polite. If they need to be, they can be plenty tough. The English language didn’t spread across the ocean and over the mountains and jungles and swamps of the world because these people were panty-waists.”

“You can understand that two actions on your part will slow up the friendship – swiping his girl, and not appreciating what his army has been up against.”

“In the pubs you will hear a lot of Britons openly criticizing their government and the conduct of the war. That isn’t an occasion for you to put in your two-cents worth. It’s their business, not yours.”

“The British don’t know how to make a good cup of coffee. You don’t know how to make a good cup of tea. It’s an even swap.”

“It is always impolite to criticize your hosts. It is militarily stupid to insult your allies. So stop and think before you sound off about lukewarm beer, or cold boiled potatoes, or the way English cigarettes taste.” show less