Acknowledgments
I was first introduced to the Armed Services Editions while digging through the archives of Charles Scribner’s Sons publishing company, researching my first book. There, I found countless letters from servicemen extending their sincerest thanks to Scribner’s for participating in the Council on Books in Wartime and providing free, miniature paperback editions to brighten their days at war. I was immediately intrigued and fascinated by these letters, and was eager to learn more about the ASEs. It was a fortuitous discovery. Telling the story of how books helped win World War II became a passion of mine.
I have been extremely fortunate to have had the help and support of a wonderful group of people along the way. Writing a book is a massive undertaking, and I am thankful for the many family members who have cheered me on over the years, with special thanks to my mother, Nancy Anne Guptill, for being a constant source of support. She has been such an extraordinary example, and I am blessed to have her as a role model. My husband, Christopher Manning, helped me work through ideas, reviewed early drafts, and believed in this book as much as I did. Thank goodness for his patience, kindness, and ability to know just when I needed a dose of encouragement. I am so lucky to be married to him.
Two of my talented colleagues, Ilana Drescher and John Mulvaney, read several drafts of the manuscript and provided great advice and ideas on how to make the story shine. Ilana, your enthusiasm and poignant insight were incredibly useful and I appreciate your wonderful suggestions. John, your advice was spot-on, and our “book lunches” were a highlight for me—your excitement for the topic was infectious and your careful edits were especially helpful.
I owe special thanks to Professor Richard Hamm, a favorite college professor, thesis advisor, and friend. Over a decade ago, he helped seal my love of history in the classroom, and I continue to learn from him today. There aren’t words to describe how much I appreciate his invaluable advice and suggestions. I am so grateful for the help he gave me, and for his encouragement through the book-writing process.
ASE expert Brian Anderson was also a tremendous help. I was not sure if anyone could love ASEs as much as I do, and then I met Brian. I have learned so much from him, and have thoroughly enjoyed our discussions about the ASEs and many other novelties of World War II publishing. I am so thankful for his careful review of my manuscript, keen editorial eye, and wonderful ideas. I especially enjoyed his ability to infuse humor into his comments in the margins. I have never laughed so hard while reading an edited document.
A group of fantastic researchers helped me find source material, and I am deeply grateful for their help. Amanda Lawrence helped me understand the character and wit of Althea Warren thanks to her careful review of the Althea Warren Papers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Maryellen Tinsley found what became some of my favorite letters from servicemen in the Betty Smith Papers at the Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. And Peggy Ann Brown discovered the needle in a haystack I was searching for in the papers of Katherine Anne Porter at the University of Maryland at College Park. When it comes to source material, I must also thank James Dourgarian, the quintessential bookman, for tracking down documents and ASEs that I needed for this book.
Once I felt the manuscript was ready, I had the good fortune of working with E. J. McCarthy, an extraordinary agent. I cannot thank him enough for being so passionate about this book. I feel fortunate to have had his expert guidance through the publishing process and excellent suggestions and advice. His meticulous edits and profound knowledge of World War II were immensely helpful. It has been such a joy working with him, and I hope this is the beginning of a long friendship and writing partnership.
When I first spoke with Bruce Nichols, of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, I knew my book had landed in the right hands. He seemed to know exactly what I wanted this book to be, and thanks to his thoughtful edits and inspired ideas, he refined and polished the manuscript into the book it is today. It has been a true pleasure working with him. I also wish to thank Ben Hyman, of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, for his willingness to answer my many questions about the publishing process and for guiding me closer and closer to publication. I’m also grateful to Melissa Dobson, who carefully copyedited my manuscript.
Appendix A
Banned Authors
The authors listed below, in random order, represent a fraction of the ten thousand whose books were banned in Germany and all German-occupied countries during World War II.
Ernest Hemingway
Walter Rathenau
Émile Zola
Thomas Mann
Michael Gold
Helen Keller
Lion Feuchtwanger
Arthur Schnitzler
Heinrich Heine
Emile Vandervelde
Leon Trotsky
Karl Marx
Ernst Toller
Henri Barbusse
Georges Duhamel
David Lloyd George
Alfred Döblin
Walter Hasenclever
Alfred Schirokauer
John Dos Passos
H. R. Knickerbocker
Nevile Henderson
Arthur Eloesser
Joseph Kallinikow
Ludwig Renn
Kurt Tucholsky
Joseph Roth
Erich Muhsam
Carl Einstein
Rudolf Olden
Arthur Holitscher
Leonhard Frank
Albrecht Schaeffer
Hermann Broch
Erika Mann
Bruno Frank
Rudolf Leonhard
Alfred Neumann
Georg Bernhard
Ernst Bloch
Kurt Kersten
Bodo Uhse
Adam Scharrer
Annette Kolb
Erich Weinert
Georg Hermann
Maria Leitner
Franz Weiskopf
Max Raphaël
Bruno Frei
Paul Zech
Heinz Pol
Max Osborn
Sigrid Undset
Franz Werfel
August Bebel
Gina Kaus
Karel Čapek
Otto Strasser
H. G. Wells
Maxim Gorki
Alfred Kerr
Heinrich Mann
Stephen Zweig
C. G. Jung
Jakob Wassermann
Albert Einstein
Arnold Zweig
Theodore Dreiser
John Gunther
G. K. Chesterton
Albert Ehrenstein
Heinrich Eduard Jacob
Ernest Ottwalt
Upton Sinclair
John Reed
Max Brod
Jaroslav Hašek
Richard Beer-Hofmann
Anatoly Lunacharsky
Karl Tschuppik
Werner Hegemann
Franz Hessel
Walter Benjamin
Robert Musil
Anna Seghers
Carl Zuckmayer
Alfred Polgar
Arthur Koestler
Klaus Mann
Alfred Wolfenstein
Martin Gumpert
Willi Bredel
O. M. Graf
Julius Hay
Fritz Brügel
Hans Sahl
Georg Kaiser
Franz Blei
Leo Lania
Gustav Regler
Wilhelm Herzog
Carl Sternheim
Paul Tillich
Karin Michaëlis
Jules Romains
Geneviève Tabouis
Romain Rolland
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Konrad Heiden
Sholem Asch
Voltaire
Sigmund Freud
Jack London
Benedict Spinoza
Ignazio Silone
Emil Ludwig
Erich Maria Remarque
Louis Fischer
Bertolt Brecht
Egon Kisch
Theodore Plievier
Ludwig Renn
Louis Aragon
Vicki Baum
Winston Churchill
Ilya Ehrenburg
Kurt Pinthus
Paul Levy
Otto Bauer
Carl von Ossietzky
Theodor Lessing
Ernst Weiss
René Schickele
Helmut von Gerlach
Alfons Goldschmidt
Fritz von Unruh
Paul Stefan
Walter Mehring
Balder Olden
Hans Siemsen
Theodor Wolff
Johannes R. Becher
Paul Westheim
Hans Marchwitza
Alfred Kantorowicz
Friedrich Wolf
Maria Gleit
Alexander Roda Roda
Hermynia Zur Mühlen
Max Werner
Ferdinand Bruckner
Wieland Herzfelde
Martin Andersen Nexø
André Maurois
Henri de Kérillis
Appendix B
Armed Services Editions
A-Series, September 1943
A-1 Leonard Q. Ross, The Education of Hyman Kaplan
A-2 Joseph C. Grew, Report from Tokyo
A-3 Ogden Nash, Good Intentions
A-4 Kathryn Forbes, Mama’s Bank Account
A-5 Robert Carse, There Go the Ships
A-6 Rose C. Feld, Sophie Halenczik, American
A-7 Theodore Pratt, Mr. Winkle Goes to War
A-8 Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist
A-9 John Steinbeck, Tortilla Flat
A-10 John R. Tunis, World Series
A-11 James Thurber, My World and Welcome to It
A-12 Frank Gruber, Peace Marshal
A-13 H. L. Mencken, Heathen Days
A-14 C. S. Forester, The Ship
A-15 William Saroyan, The Human Comedy
A-16 Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Wind, Sand, and Stars
A-17 John Bartlett Brebner and Allan Nevins, The Making of Modern Britain
A-18 Philip K. Hitti, The Arabs
A-19 Howard Fast, The Unvanquished
A-20 Albert Q. Maisel, Miracles of Military Medicine
A-21 Herbert Agar, A Time for Greatness
A-22 Graham Greene, The Ministry of Fear
A-23 Max Herzberg, Merrill Paine, and Austin Works, eds., Happy Landings
A-24 Herman Melville, Typee
A-25 Rackham Holt, George Washington Carver
A-26 Joseph Conrad, Lord Jim
A-27 Carl Sandburg, Storm over the Land
A-28 Hervey Allen, Action at Aquila
A-29 Ethel Vance, Reprisal
A-30 Jack Goodman, The Fireside Book of Dog Stories
B-Series, October 1943
B-31 R. W. Lane, Let the Hurricane Roar
B-32 Fred Herman, Dynamite Cargo
B-33 Robert Frost, Come In, and Other Poems
B-34 Edith Wharton, Ethan Frome
B-35 Mary Lasswell, Suds In Your Eye
B-36 Peter Field, Fight for Powder Valley!
B-37 Cornelia Otis Skinner and Emily Kimbrough, Our Hearts Were Young and Gay
B-38 MacKinlay Kantor, Gentle Annie
B-39 R. Benchley, Benchley Beside Himself
B-40 William Sloane, To Walk the Night
B-41 Edmund Gilligan, The Gaunt Woman
B-42 Alan LeMay, Winter Range
B-43 Arthur Henry Gooden, Painted Buttes
B-44 Rosemary Taylor, Chicken Every Sunday
B-45 P. Lowe, Father and Glorious Descendant
B-46 H. Allen Smith, Life in a Putty Knife Factory
B-47 Archie Binns, Lightship
B-48 Hartzell Spence, Get Thee Behind Me
B-49 Mary O’ Hara, My Friend Flicka
B-50 Henry C. Cassidy, Moscow Dateline
B-51 Dorothy Macardle, The Uninvited
B-52 Walter D. Edmonds, Rome Haul
B-53 Struthers Burt, Powder River
B-54 Louis Adamic, The Native’s Return
B-55 Majorie Kinnan Rawlings, The Yearling
B-56 Stefan Heym, Hostages
B-57 Hubert Herring, Good Neighbors
B-58 Merrill Denison, Klondike Mike
B-59 Marcus Goodrich, Delilah
B-60 Peter Freuchen, Arctic Adventure
C-Series, November 1943
C-61 Alan H. Brodrick, North Africa
C-62 Conrad Richter, The Sea of Grass
C-63 J. H. Robinson, The Mind in the Making
C-64 Voltaire, Candide
C-65 Stewart Edward White, The Forest
C-66 Nelson C. Nye, Pistols for Hire
C-67 Max Beerbohm, Seven Men
C-68 Vereen Bell, Swamp Water
C-69 Charles Courtney, Unlocking Adventure
C-70 Booth Tarkington, Penrod
C-71 W. H. Hudson, Green Mansions
C-72 Clarence E. Mulford, Hopalong Cassidy Serves a Writ
C-73 Walter Lippmann, U.S. Foreign Policy
C-74 DuBose Heyward, Star Spangled Virgin
C-75 J. B. Priestley, Black-Out in Gretley
C-76 Mark Twain, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
C-77 Stephen Vincent Benét, Short Stories
C-78 Betty Wason, Miracle in Hellas
C-79 Frank Meier, Fathoms Below
C-80 Ernestine Hill, Australian Frontier
C-81 George R. Stewart, Storm
C-82 Gontran De Poncins, Kabloona
C-83 Hervey Allen, The Forest and the Fort
C-84 Herbert Quick, The Hawkeye
C-85 J. W. Thomason, . . . And a Few Marines
C-86 John Selby, Starbuck
C-87 Edison Marshall, Great Smith
C-88 Esther Forbes, Paul Revere and the World He Lived In
C-89 Manuel Komroff, Coronet
C-90 John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath
D-Series, December 1943
D-91 James Hilton, The Story of Dr. Wassell
D-92 Charles Spalding and Otis Carney, Love at First Flight
D-93 Stewart E. White, Blazed Trail Stories
D-94 W. C. Tuttle, Tumbling River Range
D-95 Berry Fleming, Colonel Effingham’s Raid
D-96 Martha Albrand, Without Orders
D-97 Willa Cather, Death Comes for the Archbishop
D-98 Conrad Richter, The Trees
D-99 Mark Van Doren, ed., The Night of the Summer Solstice
D-100 C. B. Kelland, Valley of the Sun
D-101 Elizabeth Daly, Evidence of Things Seen
D-102 Joseph Hergesheimer, Java Head
D-103 George S. Bryan, Mystery Ship
D-104 Gordon S. Seagrave, Burma Surgeon
D-105 Harry Emerson Fosdick, On Being a Real Person
D-106 Hans Zinsser, Rats, Lice, and History
D-107 Charles Allen Smart, R. F. D.
D-108 Joseph Mitchell, McSorley’s Wonderful Saloon
D-109 Bellamy Partridge, Country Lawyer
D-110 Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
D-111 Joseph Shearing, Blanche Fury
D-112 Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, Cross Creek
D-113 A. J. Cronin, The Keys of the Kingdom
D-114 John T. Whitaker, We Cannot Escape History
D-115 William Wister Haines, Slim
D-116 Martha Foley, ed., The Best American Short Stories, 1942
D-117 Betty Smith, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
D-118 Lloyd C. Douglas, The Robe
D-119 F. van Wyck Mason, Rivers of Glory
D-120 John P. Marquand, So Little Time
E-Series, January 1944
E-121 Phil Stong, State Fair
E-122 Ralph Waldo Emerson, Seven Essays
E-123 W. C. Tuttle, Ghost Trails
E-124 Arthur H. Gooden, The Range Hawk
E-125 Fra
nk H. Spearman, The Mountain Divide
E-126 Bertha Damon, A Sense of Humus
When Books Went to War Page 20
