When Books Went to War

The Stories That Helped Us Win World War II

by Molly Guptill Manning

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Boston, 2014. Hardcover in dust jacket. Red boards with black lettering on the spine. 267 pages.

Before this, the best reference book on the Armed Services Editions was Books in Action, by Dr. John Y. Cole (seen elsewhere in this BookScans reference section). But that was a true bibliography; while this one is more a history of the times, the people, the books, and how they all interacted. The point it makes is that the books not only entertained, they helped to coalesce a fractured American society through the views of modern authors; as well as making books a focal point, or common point of interest, in our fight against an enemy that was seen to suppress free speech.

Well researched and footnoted. An appendix lists every Armed Services Edition.

I most highly recommend this book.