The World War II Memorial: A Grateful Nation Remembers [Hardcover]

Douglas Brinkley (Editor), John Eisenhower (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 17, 2004

Assuming its rightful place of honor on the National Mall between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument, the World War II Memorial is an eloquent and moving tribute to “The Greatest Generation.” Sixteen million Americans served in the armed forces—more than 400,000 gave their lives—and millions supported the war effort from home, all in the name of protecting that which we, as Americans, hold most dear: freedom.

The World War II Memorial, published in conjunction with the dedication of this long-overdue memorial, commemorates the everyday Americans who in countless ways rose up to defeat one of history's gravest threats to freedom. Veterans—including George H.W. Bush, Sen. Daniel Inouye, former senators Bob Dole and George McGovern, Yogi Berra, and many, many others—contribute their own personal stories while leading historians look at the military campaigns of the war. The memorial's architect and its sculptor provide insights into how it symbolizes the fortitude and perseverance of a generation, and the exclusive photographs present the memorial through all stages of construction. Fittingly, this historic tribute falls in the 60th anniversary year of D-Day, a time when our nation once again reflects on its greatest sacrifice and greatest victory in the name of freedom.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A fine companion to the PBS documentary on the memorial, this coffee-table volume begins and ends with useful histories and discussions of the memorial itself. In between are summaries from Brinkley (Tour of Duty: John Kerry and the Vietnam War, etc.) of land, sea and air campaigns, in Europe and the Pacific; of the home front, including war production and daily life; of women’s roles. Interspersed with the narratives are the personal tales of WWII veterans, including All-Star Pitcher Bob Feller, a battleship sailor; Audie Murphy, the most decorated American soldier; and a young Annapolis graduate who commanded a submarine at the end of the war, with a parallel tale by his wife. Well-chosen and well-reproduced period photographs are here in generous quantity, even if emphasizing the classics, as are photos of the memorial (by Richard Latoff). The war production of the Ford Motor Company (a sponsor of the volume and the TV special) gets significant space. The foreword by John S.D. Eisenhower states that for the U.S., the "impact of WWII lies chiefly on the effect it had on the Americans who lived through the period, especially those who participated, and the impact it had on American society." It does not mention the impact of the 405,399 U.S. deaths during the war, also commemorated by the memorial.
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From Booklist

A tribute to the new war memorial in Washington, D.C., this work brackets a capsule history of America's role in World War II between descriptions of the monument's architectural character and its physical construction. The book's purpose, editor Brinkley indicates, is similar to the monument's: to induce those without living memory of the war to appreciate the conflict's enormous effect on America. Thus the memorial itself has an accessible classical design, with arches, columns, bas-relief bronzes, and inscriptions. The book is similarly approachable, with plenty of photographs of the memorial and of the war. The narrative divides the American war (the Allies are largely omitted) into its operational naval, air, and ground components and also covers war production and the influx of women into the factories and the armed forces. An established historian handles each section, which stresses individual experience (enhanced in sidebars by memoirists) and frames it with the strategic course of campaigns and the tactical events of battles. Excellent as commemoration and an able introduction. Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Smithsonian Books; 1St Edition edition (May 17, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1588342107
• ISBN-13: 978-1588342102
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 1 x 11 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #578,400 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Dr. Douglas Brinkley is currently a Professor of History at Rice University and a Fellow at the James Baker III Institute of Public Policy. He completed his bachelor's degree at Ohio State University and received his doctorate in U.S. Diplomatic History from Georgetown University in 1989. He then spent a year at the U.S. Naval Academy and Princeton University teaching history. While a professor at Hofstra University, Dr. Brinkley spearheaded the American Odyssey course, in which he took students on numerous cross-country treks where they visited historic sites and met seminal figures in politics and literature. Dr. Brinkley's 1994 book, The Majic Bus: An American Odyssey chronicled his first experience teaching this innovative on-the-road class which became the progenitor to C-SPAN's Yellow School Bus.

Five of Dr. Brinkley's books have been selected as New York Times "Notable Books of the Year": Dean Acheson: The Cold War Years(1992), Driven Patriot: The Life and Times of James Forrestal, with Townsend Hoopes (1992), The Unfinished Presidency: Jimmy Carter's Journey Beyond the White House (1998), Wheels for the World: Henry Ford, His Company and a Century of Progress (2003), and The Great Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, and the Mississippi Gulf Coast (2006).

Five of his most recent publications have become New York Times best-sellers: The Reagan Diaries, (2007), The Great Deluge (2006), The Boys of Pointe du Hoc: Ronald Reagan, D-Day and the U.S. Army 2nd Ranger Battalion (2005), Tour of Duty: John Kerry and the Vietnam War (2004) and Voices of Valor: D-Day: June 6, 1944 with Ronald J. Drez (2004). The Great Deluge (2006), was the recipient of the Robert F. Kennedy prize and a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book award.

Before coming to Rice, Dr. Brinkley served as Professor of History and Director of the Roosevelt Center at Tulane University in New Orleans. From 1994 until 2005 he was Stephen E. Ambrose Professor of History and Director of the Eisenhower Center for American Studies at the University of New Orleans. During his tenure there he wrote two books with the late Professor Ambrose: Rise to Globalism: American Foreign Policy Since 1938 (1997) and The Mississippi and the Making of a Nation: From the Louisiana Purchase to Today (2002). On the literary front, Dr. Brinkley has edited Jack Kerouac's diaries, Hunter S. Thompson's letters and Theodore Dreiser's travelogue. His work on civil rights includes Rosa Parks (2000) and the forthcoming Portable Civil Rights Reader.

He won the Benjamin Franklin Award for The American Heritage History of the United States (1998) and the Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt Naval History Prize for Driven Patriot (1993). He was awarded the Business Week Book of the Year Award for Wheels for the World and was also named 2004 Humanist of the Year by the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities. He has received honorary doctorates from Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut.

Dr. Brinkley is contributing editor for Vanity Fair, Los Angeles Times Book Review and American Heritage. A frequent contributor to the New York Times, The New Yorker, and The Atlantic Monthly, he is also a member of the Theodore Roosevelt Association, the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute, the Council on Foreign Relations and the Century Club. In a recent profile, the Chicago Tribune deemed him "America's new past master."

Forthcoming publications include The Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the crusade for America and a biography of Walter Cronkite.

He lives in Austin and Houston, Texas with his wife and three children.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book!, February 7, 2010

By 

Barbara Bush (Cartersville, GA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The World War II Memorial: A Grateful Nation Remembers (Hardcover)

I ordered this book for my Dad who is a WWII Veteran. He could not travel to Washington to see the memorial so I got this book to show him what it was all about. He could not put it down the first day!

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars FITTING TRIBUTE TO THE GREATEST GENERATION, April 7, 2006

By 

Shannon Deason (Houston) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The World War II Memorial: A Grateful Nation Remembers (Hardcover)

This is a wonderfully realized book on a memorial that is a wonderful tribute to the greatest generation of behalf on a grateful nation. I appreciated the history lesson on American's envolvement in World War II, and the images of the memorial itself are well conceived. The memorial, though colossel, is somehow intimate and fitting, and is full of symbolism. I only wish my grandfather had seen it, but alas he died before it was completed. The nation owes Bob Dole a huge thanks for getting this long deserved memeorial built, thank you Senater Dole, you make me very proud.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Makes a great resource and gift, October 1, 2011

By 

M. MacKenzie (Southern Indiana) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The World War II Memorial: A Grateful Nation Remembers (Hardcover)

We took a trip to Washington DC and I was very impressed with this memorial. I saw this book for full price in Arlington and could not get it at the time, so I came home and found it through AMAZON cheaper. I purchased it for my grandfather, a WWII veteran. It's got very good pictures and information!