The American People in World War II

Freedom from Fear, Part Two

David M. Kennedy

Oxford History of the United States

Explains how the nation agonized over its role in the conflict, how it fought the war, and why the United States emerged victorious
Analyzes the determinants of American strategy, the painful choices faced by commanders and statesmen, and the agonies inflicted on the millions of ordinary Americans who were compelled to swallow their fears and face battle as best they could
The second installment of Kennedy's Pulitzer Prize-winning series

The American People in World War II

Freedom from Fear, Part Two

David M. Kennedy

Oxford History of the United States

Description

Even as the New Deal was coping with the Depression, a new menace was developing abroad. Exploiting Germany's own economic burdens, Hitler reached out to the disaffected, turning their aimless discontent into loyal support for his Nazi Party. In Asia, Japan harbored imperial ambitions of its own. The same generation of Americans who battled the Depression eventually had to shoulder arms in another conflict that wreaked worldwide destruction, ushered in the nuclear age, and forever changed their way of life and their country's relationship to the rest of the world.

The American People in World War II--the second installment of Kennedy's Pulitzer Prize-winning Freedom from Fear--explains how the nation agonized over its role in the conflict, how it fought the war, why the United States emerged victorious, and why the consequences of victory were sometimes sweet, sometimes ironic. In a compelling narrative, Kennedy analyzes the determinants of American strategy, the painful choices faced by commanders and statesmen, and the agonies inflicted on the millions of ordinary Americans who were compelled to swallow their fears and face battle as best they could. The American People in World War II is a gripping narrative and an invaluable analysis of the trials and victories through which modern America was formed.

The American People in World War II

Freedom from Fear, Part Two

David M. Kennedy

Oxford History of the United States

Author Information

David M. Kennedy is Donald J. McLachlan Professor of History at Stanford University. He is the author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929-1945. He is also the author of Over Here: The First World War and American Society, which was a Pulitzer Prize finalist, and Birth Control in America: The Career of Margaret Sanger, which won the Bancroft Prize. He lives in Stanford, California.

The American People in World War II

Freedom from Fear, Part Two

David M. Kennedy

Oxford History of the United States

Reviews and Awards

PRAISE FOR FREEDOM FROM FEAR:

"A grand historical synthesis...this is the kind of book prizes are made for."--Chicago Tribune

"Skillfully weaves together the era's social, economic, and political strands.... Illuminating information and insights on almost every page"--Los Angeles Times Book Review

"A brilliant achievement."--Dallas Morning News

"Consistently original and sometimes startling conclusions."--The Washington Post