David C. Smith (2) (1929–2009)

This is a really nice overview of women's lives on the WWII homefront, and includes some diversity of letter-writers. It's not quite as devastating as [b:Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam|379365|Dear America Letters Home from Vietnam|Bernard Edelman|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1388291219s/379365.jpg|1542519], but then, what could be? For non-combat letters, these do a great job of communicating the stress of wartime.

More a hagiography than a biography. Wells can do no wrong unlike in the more balanced work of the MacKenzies to which this biography seems poor by comparison.
Divided into sections by Wells's interests in life (Student, Author, Teacher and Prophet) the book goes back and forth in chronology. This results in a great deal of confusion unless one knows a fair bit about Wells's life to begin with. People are mentioned without any background, their relationship to Wells only explained hundreds of show more pages later.
Useful for its summary chronology and its extensive listing of sources but for the general reading a poor choice. show less

Since You Went Away is an intimate look at female personal correspondence written during the war years. I ordered this for research and found the content enlightening. It is a little dry at times and once the invasive effect of reading personal letters faded, I found it much more enlightening.

Finished on Jun 1, 2013

293 pg

★ ★ ★ ★

Since You Went Away provides intimate glimpses of the American homefront during World War II.
It contains letters to soldiers from women of all backgrounds and ages, and from all over the United State.

There is a pre and post war sketch of each woman and the man to whom she wrote.
The book is divided topically rather than chronologically.

Chapter headings will give an idea of the direction of the book is heading.

Don't you know there's a war on? show more --
Courtship by mail --
War brides --
War wives --
Be with him at every mail call : a pictorial essay --
I took a war job --
For the duration --
The price of victory --
Why we fought --
Chronology of World War II events --
For further reading
index. show less