The war and the nation: World War II, the army, and ethnic America.

摘要

Describes and examines how service in the United States military during World War II led to a sea change in the relations among Americans of various ethnic and religious backgrounds. In a remarkably short period, the United States went from a country sharply divided along ethnic and religious lines to a more pluralistic society marked by general tolerance among white ethnic and religious groups. Guided by both necessity and idealism, the World War II Army gathered recruits from a wide variety of backgrounds and mixed them together---with the notable exceptions of African-Americans, Japanese-Americans, and women. Army life---from the shock of basic training to the boredom of everyday duty and the excitement and terror of combat---bound these soldiers together, regardless of their diverse ethnicities and religions. Having learned this lesson, the millions of veterans of the war returned home to a country that looked to them to lead the way into the postwar world. They built a social, cultural, and political home remarkably free of the specific ethnic and religious prejudices that had been so prevalent in the prewar period---and their complex relationships with race, gender, and the Cold War helped to define the new issues of that tumultuous era.