Gerald Linderman

This book is an excellent look into the hearts and minds of soldiers during WWII. One of the things it shows is the difference in behavior in the various theaters of the war. In Western Europe (if I'm remembering my theaters correctly), German and American soldiers would cease firing in order to allow the other side to bring back their wounded. Soldiers would even rescue wounded soldiers of the opposing force and care for them. In Eastern Europe and the Pacific theater, wounded soldiers show more would be killed. Prisoners would be killed. Men who surrendered would be killed.

Letters from home, or the lack thereof, would lift the soldiers' spirits or leave them in the doldrums. However, they often felt they were living totally distinct lives from the lives they lived at home. They behaved with a different code of honor, often in ways that would have shocked their families. Some men even put away all memorabilia from home, finding that it interferred with their functioning in this different world. show less

This civil war book is unique, in that we see the war from the perspective of those who were involved. Linderman includes excerpts from letters and diaries of the men who fought this horrible war. The reader gets a true feel for what this period in history must have been like for the men and women who lived through it.