The World within War: America's Combat Experience in World War II
Many works seek to explain why soldiers fight as they do, but this one stands out. Historian Linderman explores the social and psychological forces working on America's citizen-soldiers when they found themselves thrown into vast conflicts beyond their expectations. His Embattled Courage (Free Pr., 1989) has become a classic study of the factors that motivated America's Civil War armies. In the present study, Linderman blends the letters and memories of some 500 American mud soldiers?combat infantrymen and Marines?sent against a highly trained enemy in a highly mechanized war. Few real surprises emerge, but the material as a whole is impressive and useful, and the chapters on the differences between fighting the Germans and the Japanese are well worth the price. This book is more penetrating than Geoffrey Perret's There's a War To Be Won (LJ 9/1/91) and makes a nice companion to Michael Doubler's Closing with the Enemy (LJ 11/15/94).?Raymond L. Puffer, U.S. Air Force History Prog., Edwards AFB, Cal.Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.