Customer Reviews

A History of US: Book 9: War, Peace, and All That Jazz 1918-1945

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I loved this book and all of Joy Hakim's books. She makes history interesting, not just interesting, but FASINATING! I would recomend this book to anyone.

I doubt there's any US History textbooks more excitingly written for kids age 9-12 than Joy Hakim's. (This series is the one used in one of the best private schools in Silicon Valley.) They're glossy and beautiful, and well-nigh irresistible. What an incredible shame. What's the problem? The problem is they contain a version of history so slanted as to amount to an utterly shameless propagandizing of children. I'm a liberal atheist, but, really, these books should be sealed into a time capsule, to entertain future historians.

I assume Hakim simply doesn't know any better, but even a Marxist with a PhD in American History would blush a little to discover that a child reading this series would never suspect that close to 100 million innocent men, women, and children died under the yoke of socialist regimes, nor that a third of the world was plunged into an unnecessary grinding poverty for decades. On the other hand, they will learn, as they should, that National Socialism murdered six million innocents, and that the Ku Klux Klan `grew hugely' in the 1920s. But they won't learn that any other serious totalitarian movements also grew hugely in the 1920s, or that five million innocents died under the rule of Lenin's first experiment in socialism in the 1920s.

On the contrary, all anti-Communism in the twentieth century is presented as nothing better than a witch-hunt. Indeed, anti-communism is literally referred to as a `witch-hunt,' several times. Come on. So, was the fight against Hitler's National Socialism a `witch-hunt'? Why such a palpable double standard for twin evils? Hakim teaches children that while National Socialism was indeed a real and present danger, and even worth waging an unprecedented World War to fight it, on the other hand, international socialism, or Communism, was, as she tells it, never any real danger to Americans.

For instance, there's a chapter on the HUAC hearings in which McCarthy is referred to as a 'liar' about a half a dozen times. The chapter literally begins with the opening sentence "Joe McCarthy was a liar." Sure, he's controversial, but the latest research by historians just doesn't back up Hakim's wild-eyed account of liberal anti-socialism in America as nothing better than a nefarious `witch-hunt' conducted by `liars' and oppressors. Totalitarian Communist Lillian Hellman is profiled as a hero, and the overall impression is given that none of these people really were Communists, but, instead, were all just as falsely accused as the supposed `witches' of Salem.

This conclusion is then used to prove the statement that Americans are a fundamentally paranoid people, who basically lose their marbles very once in a while. (See book "Not Without Honor." on McCarthy and PBS documentary on Salem to find out why even Salem wasn't actually paranoia after all, but a toxic crop of moldy rye.)

Bravo, Joy Hakim! History was never really enjoyable for me-not boring, just not really captivating. This book, number 9 in A History of US, is my favorite so far. The others were really well done, and I enjoyed them, too.
She really writes it more like our countries big story. The famous men and women are introduced more as characters than as names. From the "Lets just have a good time" 20's after World War I, through racial bigotry, the Depression, the attack on Pearl Harbor to the end of World War II, she explains everything in detail. Hakim throws in funny and interesting facts, pictures (the second edition is in full color) paragraphs out of books, autobiographies and letters, making you feel that you understand almost everything you can. I think this, the 1918-1945 period in history has been the most interesting for me. So much was going on! It seems like she packed a lot into one book, but even her summarizing jobs are amazing.
I really admire her truthfulness, and the hope she always seems to have that things will get better in the future, and that we'll try not to repeat old mistakes. She acclaims people who helped change the nation for better, and doesn't justify or smooth over the bad. Even while she's telling about all the evil of Hitler's government, she is letting you know that America's government made some pretty bad mistakes too, like not accepting the 2,000 refugee children from Germany that Hitler was willing to send over.
One thing I like most about her books, and especially this one, is she never makes an excuse for the hate groups, rioters, and even famous people that she admires. She pulls out the faults, and explains carefully why they did the things they did . Hakim does it in a way that makes you understand, if not accept, their acts. There are still things I don't (and don't think I ever will) understand in history, but Hakim really helps me grasp them better. Kids will really enjoy these books a lot more than the huge history textbooks. Hakim put some really hard issues and photos in her books, but after all, they are history.
Five stars definitely!

I ordered this book which was classified as a "very good" used book. However, when I received it, it was full of highlights in bright pink. It was also not in the best shape. They couldn't send me another one because they say there are no more. How can that be? Are they saying that everyone wanted it and bought it at the same time? Give me a break!!!!

I purchased this as a used book, but it is in excellent shape. Looks just as if had been read once or twice but definitely lived up to and exceeded my expectations.

American kids have a hard enough time caring about the post-Vietnam era. For an author to make the years from 1918 to 1945 come alive, and particularly the Great Depression, is a feat indeed. Hakiim has accomplished it with this book. The criticisms about its sympathies to Communism are well-taken, but a good middle or high school teacher can remedy that in short order, or simply assign selected chapters instead of having kids read all the way through from start to finish. I have had students tell me that they are reading this volume for enjoyment, which is also a remarkable feat.

Page 129 of this book states: "Pearl Harbor is a disaster, but it may also be a lucky break. It unites the nation. There are no more isolationists. Everyone joins the war effort."

Since the attack on Pearl Harbor was certainly not "a lucky break" for the men who perished there, Hakim must be speaking from the point of view of those who wanted the U.S. to enter WWII. Unfortunately for America, men in the highest positions of the Roosevelt administration held that point of view. Consider the following quote, for example, from Secretary of War Henry Stimson, who was reporting to the Pearl Harbor Congressional Investigation when he stated:

"In spite of the risk involved, however, in letting the Japanese fire the first shot, we realized that in order to have the full support of the American people it was desirable to make sure that the Japanese be the ones to do this so that there should remain no doubt in anyone's mind as to who were the aggressors." - (Robert A. Theobald, The Final Secret of Pearl Harbor (Old Greenwich, Conn.: Devin-Adair, 1954), Chapter 7)

So it wasn't "luck" after all. It was perfidy.