Reporting World War 2 (Paperback)

~ Samuel Hynes (Compiler), Anne Matthews (Compiler), Nancy Caldwell Sorel (Compiler) "It's all over..." (more)
Key Phrases: operations shack, regimental command post, strafing planes, Father Kleinsorge, United States, New York (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

With 1995 marking the 50th anniversary of the close of World War II, countless volumes are being produced by numerous publishers. This duo from the venerable Library of America takes a different tack as it approaches the war through the eyes of the reporters and photographers who first delivered its harsh images from the front lines of the jungles, beachheads, and ravaged villages to the American public, often at great personal peril. The text is an amalgam of hard news dispatches, letters, and articles from writers as far-ranging as Ernie Pyle, Bill Mauldin, John Hersey, Edward R. Murrow, and Martha Gellhorn to John Steinbeck, Ernest Hemingway, and Gertrude Stein. Together they impart not only the where and when of events but the emotional toll of war as well. With the advent of television, this is also an archive of a brand of journalism unfortunately long gone. The volumes include 64 pages of photos and more than 200 cartoons, drawings, and maps. The Library of America has outdone itself with this set; Reporting World War II is quite simply outstanding. Highly recommended for all public and academic libraries.
Michael Rogers, "Library Journal"
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Description

In a time when public perceptions were shaped by the written and spoken word, war correspondents were often as influential as politicians and as celebrated as movie stars. Here, for the first time in paperback, the work of more than 50 remarkable reporters has been drawn from original newspaper and magazine reports, radio transcripts, and wartime books to capture the intensity of World War II's unfolding drama. This volume includes the work of Ernie Pyle, A. J. Liebling, E. B. White, William L. Shirer, John Steinbeck, Margaret Bourke-White, Edward R. Murrow, Martha Gellhorn, James Agee, John Hersey-whose Hiroshima appears in full-and many more. Also included are:

A detailed chronology (1933-1945)
Maps
Profiles of the journalists
Helpful notes
A glossary of military terms, and Notes on the texts

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 874 pages
• Publisher: Library of America (May 3, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1931082057
• ISBN-13: 978-1931082051
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.3 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #378,686 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I wish I could give it six stars..., November 26, 1999

By	A Tarot Student (Salt Lake City, Utah, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Reporting World War II boxed set (The Library of America) (Hardcover)

This two-volume set is as gripping as the very best fictional thrillers. The writing quality is amazingly good -- perhaps reporters were just better educated in those days, or maybe the drama of the war brought out the very best in them. There is an immediacy to these selections that is lacking from most after-the-fact retrospectives.

The editing is first-rate. Oddly, no one is listed as an editor, so I suppose the credit must go to the four-person Advisory Board. As is typical of Library of America volumes, there are excellent supporting materials at the back of each book -- biographical notes, maps, notes, glossary, and so on -- and the bindings are very high quality.

All in all, these books are wonderful. If you have even a passing interest in history, I strongly recommend them. If you love reading history, they are indispensable.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best journalists reporting to Americans on WWII, April 21, 1998

By	[e-mail] (Detroit, MI) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Reporting World War II boxed set (The Library of America) (Hardcover)

An amazing collection of the finest pieces written on WWII for the American audience. William Shirer, Ernie Pyle, Ernest Hemingway, Bill Maudlin, etc., covering the earliest moves by the Germans into Czechoslovakia and Poland, the Pacific, African and European theaters, the Eastern Front, the Battle of the Bulge, the campaigns in Italy, the home front, the Battle of Britain, and so on. Remarkable for the quality of the writing and the sense of place and time in every piece. Yes, Americans were told the truth in 1938 about Hitler and the Nazis, and about the Holocaust shortly thereafter. Why did we not do something sooner?

5.0 out of 5 stars Reporting WW II, May 1, 2009

By	David Weinberg (Grantham, NH) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

The book is excellent. However, I would have liked to get the volume bound in series with the other LOA titles and the dust cover on it. This may be a minor quibble as the book is so far superior. I would like to get the book with the dust jacket showing Ed Murrow, which I was originally taken with when I borrowed the book from a library in Japan.
No big issue, though.

The product description shows the book with Murrow's picture (as pictured to the right), so I took it for granted that that was the way the book would arrive.