The History Book Club discussion

We sometimes forget that the civilian population of Germany also had to bear the burdens of the war.

The German Home Front 1939-45

by Brian Davis (no photo)

Synopsis:

An examination of Germany's home front situation during World War II (1939-1945). At the outbreak of war in 1939 Germany was committed to the concept of Blitzkrieg - a swift and decisive war. Yet, the reality became something very different as every corner of German society was hit by the realities of war.

This book details the critical civilian support that was necessary to maintain Nazi control of the civilian population and includes first-hand accounts of the experiences of civilians who suffered at the hands of their own government as well as enduring the deprivations and fears of wartime life. With analysis and descriptions of civil and home services, from air raid wardens to postwomen, this book provides a detailed, lavishly illustrated description of wartime life in Germany, exploring the tentacles of the Nazi state as they affected every man, woman and child.

This looks like the best place to put these two WWII titles from a series on military occupations. Definitely untouched aspects in my book. It's all about outgrowing Normandy and the Bulge.

Serbia under the Swastika: A World War II Occupation

by Alexander Prusin(no photo)

Synopsis:

The 1941 Axis invasion of Yugoslavia initially left the German occupiers with a pacified Serbian heartland willing to cooperate in return for relatively mild treatment. Soon, however, the outbreak of resistance shattered Serbia's seeming tranquility, turning the country into a battlefield and an area of bitter civil war. Deftly merging political and social history, Serbia under the Swastika looks at the interactions between Germany's occupation policies, the various forces of resistance and collaboration, and the civilian population. Alexander Prusin reveals a German occupying force at war with itself. Pragmatists intent on maintaining a sedate Serbia increasingly gave way to Nazified agencies obsessed with implementing the expansionist racial vision of the Third Reich. As Prusin shows, the increasing reliance on terror catalyzed conflict between the nationalist Chetniks, communist Partisans, and the collaborationist government. Prusin unwraps the winding system of expediency that at times led the factions to support one-another against the Germans--even as they fought a ferocious internecine civil war to determine the future of Yugoslavia.

Mussolini's Army in the French Riviera: Italy's Occupation of France

by Emanuele Sica (no photo)

Synopsis:

In contrast to its brutal seizure of the Balkans, the Italian Army's 1940-1943 relatively mild occupation of the French Riviera and nearby alpine regions bred the myth of the Italian brava gente , or good fellow, an agreeable occupier who abstained from the savage wartime behaviors so common across Europe. Employing a multi-tiered approach, Emanuele Sica examines the simultaneously conflicting and symbiotic relationship between the French population and Italian soldiers. At the grassroots level, Sica asserts that the cultural proximity between the soldiers and the local population, one-quarter of which was Italian, smoothed the sharp angles of miscommunication and cultural faux-pas at a time of great uncertainty. At the same time, it encouraged a laxness in discipline that manifested as fraternization and black marketeering. Sica's examination of political tensions highlights how French prefects and mayors fought to keep the tatters of sovereignty in the face of military occupation. In addition, he reveals the tense relationship between Fascist civilian authorities eager to fulfil imperial dreams of annexation and army leaders desperate to prevent any action that might provoke French insurrection. Finally, he completes the tableau with detailed accounts of how food shortages and French Resistance attacks brought sterner Italian methods, why the Fascists' attempted "Italianization" of the French border city of Menton failed, and the ways the occupation zone became an unlikely haven for Jews.

Very good Dimitri and thank you - it is much better if you put one book per comment box - People are more inclined to read it. Also put some paragraph breaks in the reviews. That helps too.

Thank you though for some good reference materials about these occupations. Not always touched upon in books.

The Home Front: Life in America During World War II

by Audible Original (no photo)

Synopsis:

[Contains some explicit content] Narrated by award-winning actor Martin Sheen, The Home Front: Life in America During World War II takes listeners into the lives of Americans at home who supported the war effort and sustained the country during wartime. The war brought immediate, life-changing shifts; from the rationing of butter, to an explosion of war-related jobs, to mixed-signals about the role of women in society. Feel what living in the United States was like for everyday people during this disruptive and uncertain period of American history in the newest Audible Original series. Martha Little is the Executive Producer. Dan Gediman is the Series Producer.

Our Mothers' War: American Women at Home and at the Front During World War II

by Emily Yellin

Synopsis:

Our Mothers' War" is a stunning and unprecedented portrait of women during World War II, a war that forever transformed the way women participate in American society.

Never before has the vast range of American women's experience during this pivotal era been brought together in one book. Now, "Our Mothers' War" re-creates what American women from all walks of life were doing and thinking, on the home front and abroad.

Drawing on a wide range of sources, including personal interviews and previously unpublished letters and diaries, Yellin shows what went on in the hearts and minds of the real women behind the female images of World War II -- women working in war plants; mothers and wives sending their husbands and sons off to war and sometimes death; women joining the military for the first time in American history; nurses operating in battle zones in Europe, Africa, and the Pacific; and housewives coping with rationing.

There's No Front Like Home

by Robert M. Yoder ( no photo)

Synopsis:
From the jacket flap:

This is the 'My Day' of Mr. and Mrs. America- a merry commentary on the civilian in wartime. Yoder, the prophet of peacetime pleasure, the wag of the city room, and the satirist of the drawing room, writes for the Chicago Daily News a column which he describes as 'venerable though corny.' Yoder is neither. 'I am,' he laughs modestly, 'only what any other Ideal American Boy could be if he, too, had curly hair and a C card.'

My Review : (since the synopsis doesn't tell you anything)
Book is comprised of newspaper columns written during WWII. As such, the writing is dated, but still is an interesting look at home life during that time. His straying into the casual misogyny of that era, gets on my nerves, but the chapter about taxes could have been ripped off the internet today. The chapter about lack of rubber for the waist of underwear and having to deal with buttons was amusing.

That is so nice that you added your own little review. We appreciate it very much.