Washington Goes to War [Paperback]

David Brinkley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 8, 1996

"Astonishing. . . Told with endearing detail . . . He knows his Washington well."
--The New York Times Book Review
"HILARIOUS AND INSTRUCTIVE . . . Brinkley has written an impressionist history, comparable to a pointillist painting composed of small points of color that, seen whole, comprise a remarkably truthful record of reality."
--George F. Will
The Washington Post
Today the hub of international affairs and government, Washington, D.C. was once little more than a sleepy, early-to-bed Southern town that happened to host our nationally elected officials. Esteemed, award-winning journalist David Brinkley remembers well what it was like--how Washington awoke from its slumber and found itself with World War II on its hands. It was left to Washington to print the paper, alphabetize the bureaucracies, host the parties, pitch the propaganda, write the laws, launch the drives, draft the boys, hire the "government girls," and engage in an often hilarious administrative war of words, wit, and even some wisdom.
"EVOCATIVE . . . One gets the sense that he was everywhere in Washington, with a bird's-eye view of the show from start to finish. . . . A grand and moving drama."
--Christopher Lehmann-Haupt
The New York Times

"A wonderful read for those of us who lived through it. It should be even better for those who are too young to remember."
--The Washington Monthly

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

This book of the just-retired newsman's reminiscences of Washington at the dawn of America's involvement in World War II is no mere historical curiosity shop. It's very instructive about the way Washington still works. For instance, Brinkley tells us that in September 1941, while FDR was still wavering about where to put the military's new headquarters building, an Army general told the contractor to get started. By the time Roosevelt found out about this a month later, the foundations for the Pentagon had already been put in place.

From Publishers Weekly

The city "boasted" 15,000 privies; you could walk through the White House gate without being questioned; the Army chief of staff, early in the war, at least, sent a handwritten note to the family of every serviceman killed in battle. Things were quite different in the WW II capital, and Brinkley (a radio reporter in Washington at the time) reveals the tempo of the town in a series of vivid character sketches and anecdotes connected by commentary both illuminating and entertaining. Among the wide variety of subjects dealt with: the bulging civilian and military bureaucracies; the housing crisis in a city "crowded to suffocation"; the pressures on black Washingtonians; the frivolousness of the town's high society (President Roosevelt publicly called them parasites); the effect on the citizenry of hordes of thrill-seeking servicemen in a city without much entertainment to offer them; the emotional wranglings of the wartime Congress; the thorny yet genial relationship between FDR and the press. This is a valuable record of a town and government coping with global responsibilities for which it was ill prepared. Photos. 175,000 first printing; BOMC main selection.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 287 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books; Reprint edition (October 8, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 034540730X
• ISBN-13: 978-0345407306
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 4.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #890,378 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent on the merits, January 13, 2003

By 

HeyJudy "heyjudy" (East Hampton, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Washington Goes to War: The Extraordinary Story of the Transformation of a City and a Nation (Audio Cassette)

By sheer coincidence, I read Ben Bradlee's memoir, A GOOD LIFE, Andy Rooney's MY WAR and David Brinkley's WASHINGTON GOES TO WAR in immediate succession.

Each of these books covers a different aspect of America's involvement in World War II. Taken as a grouping, these three may be the definitive report of the social history of the moment, as impacted by that War. Obviously, Tom Brokaw's book of individual reminiscences, THE GREATEST GENERATION, must be included with this list as well.

In common with all of these others, David Brinkley, too, is an excellent writer who makes history lively and interesting. As with each of the other books mentioned in this group, WASHINGTON GOES TO WAR can stand alone on its own merits. Yet each of these books gains synergistically by being read in tandem with the others.

This was a fascinating moment in modern history, and David Brinkley tells tales that most readers would have no other way of learning.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, Brinkley is great at taking you back, April 29, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Washington Goes to War (Mass Market Paperback)

I am only 17 years old but when I was reading this book I felt like I really knew the world that Brinkley was talking about. Ashley in DC

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars How Washington, D.C. became WASHINGTON, DC, April 17, 2001

By 

Wayne A. Smith (Newark, DE) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Washington Goes to War (Mass Market Paperback)

In 1940 Washington, DC was a town that hosted our national government. By the end of 1945 it was a city and the central focus of a government that managed the sixteen million men and women in uniform who fought the Second World War and the other millions who supported the effort at home.

This required office space, housing, entertainment and above all people, people, people. More people than anyone imagined could be supported in our ten mile square federal district.

David Brinkley saw the transformation first hand. People and buildings could literally not be deployed fast enough in our nation's capitol city to keep up with the demands of World War. The effort to accomodate this change is an interesting story told well by the author. The pace and magnitude of change is fascinating to behold. One wonders how the bureaucracy that took a 250,000 man fighting force from wooden training rifles to the millions who had 50,000 aircraft alone to deploy against our enemies were able to undertake this phenominal expansion in reasonably good order. As Brinkley tells it, it was part good old American "can-do" attitude coupled with a near unanimous belief in our mission and dedication to winning the war.

Somehow the City, and the people responsible for running its only true industry (government) managed the task and its transformation fairly well.

Brinkley is a good story teller, and his chronicle of how Washington changed during the war years is also the story of America coming of age. He brings a fresh descriptive narrative to what turns out to be a pretty interesting story.