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Defending Baltimore Against Enemy Attack: A Boyhood Year During World War II
 
 
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Defending Baltimore Against Enemy Attack: A Boyhood Year During World War II (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "On January 2, two weeks before I turned nine, the Japanese took Manila and I sadly had to pin a tiny Japanese flag to the..." (more)
Key Phrases: very good year, victory gardens, Mary Ann, Our Lady of Lourdes, Sister Serena (more...)
4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
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  Audio, CD, Audiobook, CD, Unabridged $11.69 $8.69 $3.19

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Osgood's memoir of growing up in Baltimore's Liberty Heights neighborhood circa 1942 echoes with the same measured cadence and disarmingly simple structure that the anchor uses in his CBS radio and TV broadcasts. The Emmy Awardâ€"winning broadcaster pulls readers into a seductive world, as he relates his obsession with baseball, his love of radio programs (which had a "profound influence" on him) and his experiences with other slices of Americana. Yet the war news affected Osgood, too, if in a minor way: he built a stink bomb with a friend ("weapons of mass disgust to waft at the enemy"), pinned a tiny Japanese flag over Manila on the map mounted on his bedroom wall and wondered "just how much of Africa needed liberating." His reminiscences are a basic nostalgic archetype, where plucky kids, strong families and sunny optimism are the order of the day, compared with Osgood's version of today's world, where ill-educated and pessimistic masses throng America's streets. The author talks about how, as a child aged eight to 12, he simply wanted to make people happy, imagining that if he were a child today, he'd be sent to a psychiatrist for such behavior. The golden-hued streets of Osgood's Liberty Heights are a bona fide paradise, drenched with more nostalgia than even Barry Levinson could offer, without a shred of acknowledgment of memory's distortion of events over time. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.


From Booklist

For a nine-year-old boy living in Baltimore, 1942 was as memorable for the childhood mischief of plaguing the nuns at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic school and making stink bombs for national defense as the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Conceding the tendency to sugarcoat childhood memories, Osgood renders sharp details of a life he insists was actually simpler and sweeter, even with the threat of war. In contrast to the arranged play dates of today's children, Osgood remembers walking out the front door and gathering other children for an impromptu baseball game. Radio figured prominently in childhood entertainment and imagination, leaving its mark on a boy who would later make a career in both television and radio. Osgood recalls listening to favorites Captain Midnight, Dick Tracy, and Superman. The beloved Baltimore Orioles and a local amusement park expanded the fun beyond his neighborhood of Liberty Heights. Osgood also recalls the underlying menace of blackout shades and air raid sirens, the sense of unity and duty in the neighborhood victory gardens, and collecting scrap metal and old newspapers to help the war effort. A warm, humorous look at the nation at war from a boy's perspective. Vanessa Bush
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
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Product Details

  • Hardcover: 160 pages
  • Publisher: Hyperion (May 12, 2004)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1401300235
  • ISBN-13: 978-1401300234
  • Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 6 x 0.7 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 10.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,168,175 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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More About the Author

Charles Osgood
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Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
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First Sentence:
On January 2, two weeks before I turned nine, the Japanese took Manila and I sadly had to pin a tiny Japanese flag to the big map I had mounted on my bedroom wall. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
very good year, victory gardens
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Mary Ann, Our Lady of Lourdes, Sister Serena, Lone Ranger, Sue Einstein, Willard Wallaby, Edgewood Road, Liberty Heights, Miss Dietsch, Jack Armstrong, New York, Sister Ursula, Sister Veronica, Babe Ruth, Chesapeake Bay, Memorial Stadium, Pearl Harbor, Steamboat Willie, Stephen Foster, The Happy Farmer, Yankee Doodle Dandy, Arthur Godfrey, Dick Tracy, Huck Finn, Lou Gehrig
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Customer Reviews

12 Reviews
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Just how I'd like to look back on my childhood, May 10, 2004
By Rebecca I. (Towson, MD) - See all my reviews
Charles Osgood proves to be as good with words in print as he is on the air. This is a great memoir of his childhood in Baltimore during WWII. I love how he and his sister Mary Kate love the radio and movies and how these two factors influence his life. Imagining the two kids quoting movies and radio lines to one another is my favorite part of the book.

Osgood also talks about how the good old days compares to today's modern child, and makes it very humorous. I laughed out loud several times while reading this book.

It's a quick read and would be a great gift for Father's Day. Especially if they like baseball.

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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Charles Osgood's Delightful Look Back, May 30, 2004
By W. C HALL (Newport, OR USA) - See all my reviews
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A perfect companion for a lazy weekend afternoon. Readers of Charles Osgood's generation, I suspect, will find themselves instantly transported back to the world of 1942, and those of more recent vintage will come away with a sense of the rhythms and textures of daily life more than six decades ago. In these pages, you'll draw close to the radio with Charles and his sister Mary Ann as they enjoy their favorite radio serials; come along as they decide to run away from home together (a trip that lasted about as long as most youthful journeys of that type); join Charles and his father at the ballpark as they root, root, root for the home team (the Baltimore Orioles, then a minor league club mired in mediocrity); kneel down with young Charles as he plants his Victory Garden; and sit in the audience as the young piano student takes part in his first recital. Certainly, Charles' boyhood was shaped by his time and place; but he also captures the beguiling innocence and vast dreams that are a timeless part of childhood. Charles Osgood's gentleness, warmth and good humor shine in the pages of this delightful book.--William C. Hall
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A Boy's Time for Reflection, May 19, 2004
By Patricia B. Ross (Wellesley, MA USA) - See all my reviews
No doubt owing to Charles Osgood's extraordinary facility with language, he has presented the simplicity as well as the complexity of a boyhood life from the perspective of his reflections back in 1942 when all boys had parents, and some had sisters. His use of detail permits the reader to sit by his side in that reflection using the time well spent to impress upon the reader the importance of childhood observations and lessons learned, the roots of appreciation for the small details through which intellectual self discipline is acquired, and how to respect the humanity as well as the humility of man. His poems are a delicious inclusion characteristic of his unique and adept methods of drawing the reader into his world to see what he sees, to contemplate what he finds important. Highly recommended for a glimpse of wartime life when luxury was not a possibility and life continued to be bearable in spite of that as children as well as parents found that making do offered unanticipated rewards, the gift of time to extrapolate the importance of families, of parents, and even of sisters. His accounts of anxious and nervous anticipation in his approach to childhood loves is charming and reminds us of just how dangerous the thought of rejection can be in the mind of a child, despite the fact that for him, it was highly unlikely, given the fact that he crafted his life so carefully to include the prescription for good physical and mental health, as well as an intellectual curiosity that most females find fascinating. A personal account of a childhood well lived pertinent to every parent to appreciate the nuances of boys.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Couldn't Stop Smiling
I loved this book and I'm sure I smiled all the way through it. Everyone loves nostalgia about the good ole days -- meaning, we ALL have our own good old days. Read more
Published on July 30, 2006 by Anne Salazar

5.0 out of 5 stars It Made Me Smile
I envy Charles Osgood. He saw and experienced a Baltimore I never did. The stork didn't drop me off in B'more until 1955. Read more
Published on April 9, 2006 by Dogmother

2.0 out of 5 stars Nostalgic, Yet Mean-Spirited
I was drawn to pick up this book when I saw the cover--the picture of the author as a young boy is irresistible. Read more
Published on June 30, 2005 by K. Byrd

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Read for an Osgood Peer
This delightful read, one year in the life of a 9-year old boy, may be the most enjoyable book I've read in years. And I read a lot of stuff. Read more
Published on June 11, 2005 by Al di Grandpa

4.0 out of 5 stars Nostalgic, but thanks for the memories
Osgood's wit and rich tribute to his 1940s boyhood results in an enjoyable, worthwhile read, even better if you get the audio version, read by Charles himself. Read more
Published on November 24, 2004 by Michael Mulkerrin

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting but frequently annoying WW2-era memoir
In "Defending Baltimore Against Enemy Attack: A Boyhood Year During World War II," Charles Osgood recalls the year 1942, when he was a 9-year old living in the city of the book's... Read more
Published on November 13, 2004 by Michael J. Mazza

3.0 out of 5 stars Nostalgic but Exasperating
There's no denying Charles Osgood's talent at writing. I immediately fell in love with this amusing and sweet tale of childhood in the 1940's. Read more
Published on July 5, 2004 by aralieclauds2

5.0 out of 5 stars Self-Deprecating Look at the Way We Were
Most people alive today were not in 1942. But most of them in the United States know the wit, wisdom and humorous verses of Charles Osgood from radio and television. Mr. Read more
Published on June 27, 2004 by Professor Donald Mitchell

5.0 out of 5 stars Dripping With Nostalgia
Charles Osgood goes back a few years before me, but I can still relate to his experiences of growing up in the 1940's. Read more
Published on June 17, 2004 by C. W. Emblom

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