A Nation Forged in War: Choice Review

Monday, January 10, 2011

Choice Review

The Choice review of A Nation Forged in War is up. Here is the text:

Bruscino, Thomas. A nation forged in war: how World War II taught Americans to get along. Tennessee, 2010. 348p bibl index ISBN 1-57233-695-1, $39.95; ISBN 9781572336957, $39.95. Reviewed in 2011jan CHOICE.

In contrast to the German practice of forming military units from soldiers of the same city or region, the US melds together groups of men from diverse geographic, ethnic, and religious backgrounds. Bruscino (US Army School of Advanced Military Studies) finds this to be one of the more important legacies of WW II. The forced intimacy of training and warfare eroded many prejudicial barriers and, in the postwar world, served as the grassroots basis for a newly enlarged sense of tolerance. The sense of sharing a common identity first emerged among troops stationed in England and Ireland. Ethno-religious differences faded as men found greater unity in terms of social values they deemed distinctly "American." Once on the continent, these differences emerged with ever-greater clarity and consistency. Bruscino notes that the size of the WW II mobilization (around 15 million men and women) and the duration of the commitment (1941-1946) were decisive factors in shaping long-term outcomes. In combat, the key motivation remained mutual protection and defense, not ideology. Unit cohesion spelled survival without regard to any other factor, and out of this foxhole experience grew a greater sense of respect for cultural differences. A well-written, highly accessible account of emergent pluralism in US culture. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels/libraries. -- J. Kleiman, University of Wisconsin Colleges

On Choice's Facebook page, they made it Today's Top Review for January 10, 2011.

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Description

World War II shaped the United States in profound ways, and this new book—the first in the Legacies of War series—explores one of the most significant changes it fostered: a dramatic increase in ethnic and religious tolerance. A Nation Forged in War is the first full-length study of how large-scale mobilization during the Second World War helped to dissolve long-standing differences among white soldiers of widely divergent backgrounds.

Never before or since have so many Americans served in the armed forces at one time: more than 15 million donned uniforms in the period from 1941 to 1945. Thomas Bruscino explores how these soldiers’ shared experiences—enduring basic training, living far from home, engaging in combat—transformed their views of other ethnic groups and religious traditions. He further examines how specific military policies and practices worked to counteract old prejudices, and he makes a persuasive case that throwing together men of different regions, ethnicities, religions, and classes not only fostered a greater sense of tolerance but also forged a new American identity. When soldiers returned home after the war with these new attitudes, they helped reorder what it meant to be white in America.

Using the presidential campaigns of Al Smith in 1928 and John F. Kennedy in 1960 as bookend events, Bruscino notes a key change in religious bias. Smith’s defeat came at the end of a campaign rife with anti-Catholic sentiment; Kennedy’s victory some three decades later proved that such religious bigotry was no longer an insurmountable obstacle. Despite such advances, Bruscino notes that the growing broad-mindedness produced by the war had limits: it did not extend to African Americans, whose own struggle for equality would dramatically mark the postwar decades.

Extensively documented, A Nation Forged in War is one of the few books on the social and cultural impact of the World War II years. Scholars and students of military, ethnic, social, and religious history will be fascinated by this groundbreaking new volume.