Book Read Free

When Books Went to War

Page 26

by Molly Guptill Manning


  [>] Thanks to their: “35,000,000 Books to Be Printed in Year in New Pocket Form for Forces Overseas,”New York Times, May 18, 1943.

  [>] “two up”: Jamieson, Books for the Army, 147.

  [>] One disadvantage: Loss, “Reading Between Enemy Lines,” 828.

  [>] The council obliged: Minutes of Exec. Committee, September 14, 1943, Council Records.

  [>] Knowing that battle: Loss, “Reading Between Enemy Lines,” 828.

  [>] “small, light”: “Council on Books in Wartime: Armed Services Editions” memo, Council Records.

  [>] Book covers: Jamieson, Books for the Army, 151.

  [>] staples were favored: Adams, “As Popular as Pin-Up Girls.”

  [>] “the prices at”: Richard L. Simon, S. Spencer Scott, and Malcolm Johnson, “Armed Services Edition” report, September 1, 1943, Council Records.

  [>] the average cost: Adams, “As Popular as Pin-Up Girls.”

  [>] 5.9 cents per book: Jamieson, Books for the Army, 142, 293, n. 1.

  [>] At the project’s: Minutes of Exec. Board, March 31, 1943, Council Records.

  [>] By the time: Jamieson, Books for the Army, 148–49; Ballou and Rakosky, A History of the Council on Books in Wartime, 74.

  [>] A three-part: Ballou and Rakosky:A History of the Council on Books in Wartime, 73–74.

  [>] The main consideration: Jamieson, Books for the Army, 152–53 (Table III).

  [>] One of the: Letter from Archibald G. Ogden to Sen. Robert A. Taft, July 8, 1944, Council Records.

  [>] These guidelines: William M. Leary Jr., “Books, Soldiers and Censorship During the Second World War,”American Quarterly 20, no. 2, part 1 (Summer 1968), 238.

  [>] “just about”: John Jamieson, “Armed Services Editions and G.I. Fan Mail,”Publishers Weekly, July 12, 1947, p. 148.

  [>] F. Scott Fitzgerald’s: Michael Merschel, “BookExpo America: Maureen Corrigan on How One Great Book Was Almost Forgotten,”Artsblog, Dallas Morning News, http://artsblog.dallasnews.com/2014/05/bookexpo-america-maureen-corrigan-on-how-one-great-book-was-almost-forgotten.html/.

  [>] For authors, learning: “Armed Services Editions: Excerpts from Letters Received by the Center for the Book from Authors of Armed Services Editions,” Library of Congress (prepared for February 17, 1983, Armed Services Editions 40th Anniversary Event).

  [>] The books chosen: Jamieson, Books for the Army, 155–56.

  [>] Managing the production: Ibid., 147, 150.

  [>] One frustrated colonel: Minutes of the Exec. Committee, November 24, December 1, 1943, Council Records.

  [>] “planned, organized”: Jamieson, Books for the Army, 149.

  [>] “The books themselves”: Malcolm Cowley, “Books by the Millions,”New Republic, October 11, 1943, pp. 483–84.

  [>] “a little unfair”: Letter to Malcolm Cowley from Archibald Ogden, October 18, 1943, Council Records.

  [>] “editions are by”: “Letters to the Editor,” “The Armed Services Editions,”New Republic, November 22, 1943, p. 720.

  [>] “mountains of books”: Adams, “As Popular as Pin-Up Girls.”

  [>] “moving, even heart-breaking”: “Armed Services Editions: Excerpts from Letters,” Library of Congress.

  [>] The Army immediately: Minutes of the Exec. Committee Meetings, September 14, 1943; October 6, 1943; January 12, 1944; January 27, 1944, Council Records.

  [>] “What the hell”: Letter from Charles Rawlings to Stanley Rinehart, June 5, 1944, Council Records.

  [>] Lewis Gannett: “Lewis Gannett, Book Critic, Dies,”New York Times, February 4, 1966.

  [>] “From hospitals”: Letter from Lewis Gannett to Philip Van Doren Stern (undated), Council Records.

  [>] Palmer began: “Gretta Palmer, Author, 46, Dead,”New York Times, August 16, 1953.

  [>] “bad-tempered articles”: Letter from Gretta Palmer to the Editorial Board, November 30, 1944, Council Records.

  6. Guts, Valor, and Extreme Bravery

  [>] “I’ve just been”: Betty Smith, “Who Died?”New York Times Magazine, July 9, 1944.

  [>] Germany faced: Stephen E. Ambrose, D-Day, June 6, 1944: The Climactic Battle of World War II (New York: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 1994), 30.

  [>] “Hello, Gang”: Lucas, Axis Sally, 12, 73, 131.

  [>] “Hello to the men”: Ambrose, D-Day, 55.

  [>] The details for: Ibid., 120–21.

  [>] One private recalled: Ibid., 140.

  [>] “The GI hitting”: Ibid., 111.

  [>] They crammed: Cornelius Ryan, The Longest Day: June 6, 1944 (New York: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 1959), 180.

  [>] “This is the first”: A. J. Liebling, “A Reporter at Large, Cross-Channel Trip—I,”New Yorker, July 1, 1944, pp. 39–40.

  [>] “morale, given”: Eisenhower, Crusade in Europe, 238.

  [>] Eisenhower was known: Ryan, The Longest Day, 254.

  [>] When the C-: Jamieson, Books for the Army, 158.

  [>] “pil[ing] up”: Minutes of the Exec. Committee, May 24, October 25, 1944, Council Records.

  [>] “very few Armed”: Jamieson, Books for the Army, 158.

  [>] moon, tide: Eisenhower, Crusade in Europe, 239.

  [>] “Priests were”: Ambrose, D-Day, 167, 170, 172, 182.

  [>] The LCIs: Ibid, 183.

  [>] “Them lucky bastards”: Ryan, The Longest Day, 193.

  [>] “I Double Dare”: Ibid., 42, 71.

  [>] “so many [were]”: Letter from 2nd Lt. R. R. R. to Council on Books in Wartime, Council Records.

  [>] “spread all over”: Liebling, “A Reporter at Large: Cross-Channel Trip,” 42.

  [>] “Good evening”: Ambrose, D-Day, 192.

  [>] “much greater fighting”: “Text of Roosevelt Talk on Rome,”New York Times, June 6, 1944.

  [>] president kept vigil: “President Kept Vigil on the News,”New York Times, June 7, 1944; Lawrence Resner, “Country in Prayer,”New York Times, June 7, 1944.

  [>] “Almighty God”: “Let Our Hearts Be Stout,”New York Times, June 7, 1944.

  [>] just another practice: Ryan, The Longest Day, 203–4.

  [>] near-certain death: Ambrose, D-Day, 326–27.

  [>] Many men who: Ryan, The Longest Day, 199, 203–4, 227.

  [>] In the first: “3,283 Killed and 12,600 Wounded U.S. Toll in Invasion, Bradley Says,”New York Times, June 18, 1944; Ryan, The Longest Day, “A Note on Casualties.”

  [>] Eleven days: “3,283 Killed and 12,600 Wounded.”

  [>] “When we think”: Sgt. Frank K. Turman, “Soldiers and GIs,”Yank, the Army Weekly (British ed.), February 11, 1945, p. 18.

  [>] “Inching back eastward”: Letter from R. S. to Katherine Anne Porter, October 11, 1945, Katherine Anne Porter Papers, Special Collections, University of Maryland Libraries (hereinafter, Katherine Anne Porter Papers).

  [>] “almost glad that I can say”: Letter from B. V. to Katherine Anne Porter, May 6, 1945, Katherine Anne Porter Papers.

  [>] “I had three”: Letter to Joseph A. Barry from Katherine Anne Porter, January 17, 1948, Katherine Anne Porter Papers, c/o The Permissions Company, Inc., on behalf of the Katherine Anne Porter Foundation.

  [>] “When I first”: V-Mail from Sgt. T. D. to Betty Smith, Betty Smith Papers, #03837, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (hereinafter Betty Smith Papers).

  [>] “made [him] feel”: Letter from B. P. C. to Betty Smith, October 20, 1944, Betty Smith Papers.

  [>] “a good letter”: Letter to “Francis,” from R. L. L., August 21, 1944, Betty Smith Papers.

  [>] “living my life”: Letter from Cpl. M. M. to “Sirs,” May 12, 1944, Council Records.

  [>] “nursing another literary seedling”: Letter from F. S., Jr. to Betty Smith, March 19, 1945, Betty Smith Papers.

  [>] did not care for: Letter from L. M. to “Sirs,” March 15, 1945, Betty Smith Papers.

  [>] “This is a fine ”: Letter from R. H. R. to Betty Smith, August 20, 1
944, Betty Smith Papers.

  [>] Smith once estimated: Letter from Betty Smith to “Elizabeth,” May 5, 1944, Betty Smith Papers.

  [>] “Thanks— thanks —[for] your letter”: Letter from “Robinson” to Betty Smith, December 10, 1944, Betty Smith Papers.

  [>] “When I received [your] letter”: Letter from L. W. to “Betty,” undated, Betty Smith Papers.

  [>] “I am going to need another”: Letter from L. W. to “Betty,” February 18, 1945, Betty Smith Papers.

  [>] “You helped inspire me”: Letter from J. W. P. to Betty Smith, April 11, 1945, Betty Smith Papers.

  [>] Months later: Letter from J. W. P. to Betty Smith, June 27, 1945, Betty Smith Papers.

  [>] “I think it’s wonderful”: Letter to “Elizabeth” from Betty Smith, May 5, 1944, Betty Smith Papers.

  [>] “thanks for the joy”: Letter from J. C. E. to Rosemary Taylor, undated, “somewhere in New Guinea,” Council Records.

  [>] “cooking without measuring”: Letter from Capt. E. B. to Rosemary Taylor, July 17, 1944, Council Records.

  [>] “resist the temptation”: Letter from B. B. to Rosemary Taylor, January 19, 1944, Council Records.

  [>] “remind[ed] them of”: Jamieson, “Armed Services Editions and GI Fan Mail,” 149.

  [>] “Books are often”: Letter from H. V. A. to Archibald Ogden, December 10, 1944, Council Records.

  [>] “printed matter”: Lieut. Col. Raymond L. Trautman, “Books and the Soldier,” in Books and Libraries in Wartime, edited by Pierce Butler (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1945), 53.

  7. Like Rain in the Desert

  [>] “For days I’ve been hunting”: Sgt. B. S. to the Armed Services Editions, Inc. (undated), Council Records.

  [>] “a steaming, malarial”: “Pacific Attack,”New York Times, July 4, 1943.

  [>] Incessant bombings: “Guadalcanal: A Crucial Battle,”New York Times, October 18, 1942.

  [>] “The nights are passed”: T. Tillman Durdin, “It’s Never Dull on Guadalcanal,”New York Times, September 18, 1942.

  [>] “worst defeat in a fair”: Admiral Samuel Eliot Morison, “Guadalcanal— 1942,” in Battle: True Stories of Combat in World War II (New York: Curtis Books, 1965), 181, 183–88.

  [>] Pacific’s most extreme: Sgt. Larry McManus, “Saipan Was Worse Than Tarawa,”Yank, the Army Weekly, August 6, 1944, p. 22.

  [>] “It was a case of”: “We Take Saipan,”New York Times, July 10, 1944.

  [>] Over fifteen thousand: “American Losses on Saipan 15,053,”New York Times, July 13, 1944.

  [>] Within four days: “Books March in Army’s Front Lines—Even to Tiny Atolls of Pacific,”Christian Science Monitor, March 13, 1945.

  [>] “The morning after”: Ballou and Rakosky, A History of the Council on Books in Wartime, 82–83.

  [>] Turning to Stars: “Mail Call,”Stars and Stripes, July 14, 1944.

  [>] “not an uncommon sight”: Letter from a field director for the American Red Cross, dated “Tuesday the 23rd,” Council Records.

  [>] “Soldiers carry your books”: Letter from “a Major in the South Pacific,” Council Records.

  [>] “so popular that one is”: B. T. C. to the “Armed Services Editions,” October 17, 1944, Council Records.

  [>] “From the Airborne”: Letter “From an Army Hospital in England,” Council Records.

  [>] “Proof at last”: Letter from 2nd Lt. R. R. R. to Council on Books in Wartime, January 30, 1945, Council Records.

  [>] “I do not know who”: Letter from Sgt. E. S. to the Council on Books in Wartime (undated), Council Records.

  [>] “damned sincere thanks”: Letter from T. C. to the Council on Books in Wartime (undated), Council Records.

  [>] “rain in the desert”: V-Mail from S. F. to the Armed Services Editions, July 17, 1944, Council Records.

  [>] “six long tiresome”: Letter from J. C. to “Gentleman,” undated, Council Records.

  [>] “Since I have been”: Letter from J. B. to Chairman, January 4, 1945, Council Records.

  [>] “gratifyingly pleased”: Letter from R. W. W. to the Armed Services Editions, July 21, 1944, Council Records.

  [>] “worthy of a medal”: V-Mail from S. F. to the Armed Services Editions, July 17, 1944, Council Records.

  [>] “For days I’ve been hunting”: Letter from Sgt. B. S. to the Armed Services Editions, Inc. (undated), Council Records.

  [>] “You have no idea”: Letter from Pfc. J. M. N. to Sirs, July 8, 1944, Council Records.

  [>] “would like to get hold of”: Letter from J. B. to the Chairman of the Council on Books in Wartime, January 4, 1945, Council Record.

  [>] a dictionary: “Editions for the Armed Services, Inc.,” signed by entire unit (undated), Council Records.

  [>] “requires little ‘sales talk’”: Letter from Sgt. G. F. to Editions for the Armed Services, Inc., August 13, 1945, Council Records.

  [>] a request came in for more plays: Letter from D. B. to “Sirs,” August 4, 1945, Council Records.

  [>] “There is just one bit”: V-Mail from Sgt. H. H. to the Editions for the Armed Forces, December 21, 1944, Council Records.

  [>] not enough sports books: Letter from Cpl. W. C. G., July 9, 1944, Council Records.

  [>] “My personal preference”: Letter from R. A. B. to the Editions for the Armed Services, Inc. (undated), Council Records.

  [>] “recent history and people”: Letter from Pfc. D. M. L. to Philip Van Doren Stern, August 23, 1944, Council Records.

  [>] wife of an American POW: Letter from H. E. A. to the Editions for the Armed Services, Inc., September 25, 1944, Council Records.

  [>] A Navy nurse: Letter from E. G. to the Editions for the Armed Services, Inc. (undated), Council Records.

  [>] “He says that I couldn’t”: Letter from Dr. A. C. K. to Council on Books in Wartime, February 26, 1946, Council Records.

  [>] contractually obligated: Letter to M. P. S. from Philip Van Doren Stern, August 15, 1944; Minutes of the Executive Committee Meeting, January 24, 1945, Council Records.

  [>] “Next month he will have”: Letter from W. A. to Editions for the Armed Services, Inc., September 16, 1945, Council Records.

  [>] “Being an ardent baseballer”: Letter from K. W. R. to the Secretary of the Editions for the Armed Services, Inc., February 14, 1946, Council Records.

  [>] exceptions were made: Note to “Phil” handsigned (unreadable), (undated), Council Records.

  [>] “The books that are most”: Letter from Pvt. D. S. to Editions for the Armed Services, Inc., March 23, 1945, Council Archives.

  [>] “fellas have a fever”: Letter from B. N. to Editions for the Armed Services, Inc., September 7, 1945, Council Archives.

  [>] “If you’ve ever seen books”: Paul Fussell, Wartime, 107.

  [>] Boston had banned: Neil Miller, Banned in Boston: The Watch and Ward Society’s Crusade Against Books, Burlesque, and the Social Evil (Boston: Beacon Press, 2010).

  [>] “We’re all looking forward”: Excerpt from Letter from Capt. M. C., December 23, 1944, Council Records.

  [>] Eleanor Roosevelt had praised: “Boston Bans a Novel,”New York Times, March 21, 1944.

  [>] While Forever Amber: Kathleen Winsor, Forever Amber (New York: Armed Services Editions, No. T-39 [1945]).

  [>] “objected to having to give”: Minutes of the Executive Committee Meeting, October 11, 1944, Council Records.

  [>] “Forever Amber and Strange ”: Letter to Pvt. D. S. from Philip Van Doren Stern, April 1945, Council Records.

  [>] “Pay no attention”: Letter from R. W. W. to the Armed Services Editions, July 21, 1944, Council Records.

  [>] “It’s beginning to look”: “Boston’s Sons in Service Reading Those Awful Books,”Boston Traveler, January 12, 1945.

  [>] man wrote from: Letter from Pvt. G. G. to Thomas Y. Crowell, Co., September 20, 1944, Council Records.

  [>] “light ack ack battalion”: Letter from F. M. E. to Harper and Bros., September 21, 1944, C
ouncil Records.

  [>] through heavy artillery fire: Letter from L. D. J. to the Council on Books in Wartime (quoting a September 10, 1944, letter to L. D. J. from Pvt. C. T. J.), Council Records.

  [>] “only to discover”: Letter from Cpl. R. C. J. to The Macmillan Company, March 11, 1945, Council Records.

  [>] “If it is your mission”: Letter from M. S. T. to “Gentlemen,” August 27, 1944, Council Records.

  [>] “out here time hangs”: Letter from M. S. T. to “Mr. Stern,” September 27, Council Records.

  [>] “many happy and contented”: Letter from B. A. to the Editions for the Armed Services, Inc., June 26, 1945, Council Records.

  [>] “to discover the names of”: Letter from H. A. B. to the “Council on Books in Wartime (or whatever!),” May 11, 1944, Council Records.

  [>] “there is no question of any”: Letter from William Sloane to Private H. A. B., July 18, 1944, Council Records.

  [>] “Don’t you think”: Letter from E. J. to the Council on Books in Wartime, March 12, 1945, Council Records.

  [>] “Next to penicillin”: Ballou and Rakosky, A History of the Council on Books in Wartime, 81.

  [>] “bet dollars to GI Spam”: Letter from “Sidney” from “somewhere at sea” (undated), Council Records.

  8. Censorship and FDR’s F---th T--m

  [>] “If it is to be left”: “Army Censor,”Lynchburg (VA) Daily Advance, June 22, 1944.

  [>] As accolades for: Jamieson, Books for the Army, 213.

  [>] After the original law: C. P. Trussell, “Both Sides Press Bids for 1944 Service Vote,”New York Times, November 21, 1943.

  [>] “the Services are unable”: “The Nation: Votes for Soldiers,”Time (Pony Ed.), January 17, 1944, p. 1.

  [>] As this legislation began: Leary, “Books, Soldiers and Censorship”; William S. White, The Taft Story (New York: Harper & Row, 1954), 43–45; Joseph B. Treaster, “Charles P. Taft, Former Mayor of Cincinnati,”New York Times, June 25, 1983.

  [>] Acknowledging that it: 90 Cong. Rec. 2404-2410 (1944).

  [>] A February 1944 poll: “What They Think,”Time (Pony Ed.), February 7, 1944, p. 25.

 

‹ Prev