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The United States and World War II is a broad-ranging introduction to the second world war in America. The politics, diplomacy, and military strategy of the war form the core of the book. The author takes a chronological approach, offering a narrative history, while highlighting and developing key thematic links through the chapters. Exemplary material substantiates thematic points and enlivens the text, while historiographical issues are addressed as appropriate throughout the narrative. The narrative begins in the late 1930s, proving that an understanding of the second world war as a transforming event requires discussion of the prior state of affairs, and ends with a consideration of the legacy of the war and its continuing significance.
List of contents
1. A Nation Unprepared; i. The US economy at the end of the 1930s; ii. Neutrality and isolationism; iii. American responses to the crises in Asia and Europe, 1937-1940; 2. Setbacks and Struggles; i. The debate on intervention: Roosevelt, America First and the Committee to Defend America by Aiding the Allies; ii. The arsenal of democracy: the war and economic upturn; iii. The road to war: shoot-on-sight in the Atlantic, embargoes in the Pacific; 3. Awakening the Sleeping Giant; i. Forging a grand alliance; ii. "Dr New Deal" becomes "Dr Win-the-War": organising the economy for war; iii. Turning the corner; iv. Building a military machine; v. Devising a strategy for victory; vi. The strategic-diplomatic-political nexus; 4. A Nation Triumphant; i. "Why we fight": mobilising the hearts and minds of the people; ii. Race and the war; iii. Hard battles; iv. The politics of war; 5. The Problems of Victory; i. The triumph of the American economy; ii. Gender, sex and the war; iii. Strategic bombing and the morality of war; iv. Public opinion on the post-war world: the resurgence of Wilsonianism; v. The second front: progress in France, stalemate in Italy; vi. Across the Central Blue; 6. The United States and World War II; i. Politics as usual; ii. Creating a New World Order; iii. Spheres of conflict; iv. Victory; v. The Manhattan project, the atomic bomb and the end of the war; vi. The American contribution to victory; Select Bibliography.
About the author
Martin Folly is a Lecturer in American Studies at Brunel University and author of
Churchill, Whitehall and the Soviet Union (Macmillan, 2000).
Summary
The politics, diplomacy and military strategy of the Second World War form the core of the book. Coverage of the social issues is integrated into the larger narrative and the military and political aspects are linked to the social through the overarching theme of the transforming effects of the war.
