Embattled dreams
Subtitle: California in war and peace, 1940-1950
By: Kevin Starr.
Series: Americans and the California dream
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2002
Place of publication: Oxford; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 386
Subjects: World War, 1939-1945 -- California; California -- History -- 1850-1950
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 346-364) and index.
Table of contents: title: Machine generated contents note: 1940 * A Matter of Life or Death 3; title: As the world sank further into violence, Californians distracted themselves through; title: pleasure. Was this a delusional response-or a brave and defiant celebration of life; title: over death?; title: 2 1941 * Shelling Santa Barbara 34; title: For nearly forty years, white California had been harassing Japanese immigrants and; title: denigrating their culture. Now, as an Imperial submarine surfaced off Santa Barbara,; title: the time of retribution seemed at hand.; title: 3 1942 * Garrison State 66; title: Mobilizing itself for war, the nation chose California as a strategic center for military; title: training and deployment. Millions of young Americans experienced California at a; title: critical time of national and personal life. Tragically, one segment of California ex-; title: perienced these years behind barbed wire.; title: 4 1943 * Zoot Suit 96; title: Why should a fashion among Mexican-American teenagers provoke such rage among; title: police and servicemen? And why should these servicemen be rioting, with police as-; title: sistance, in such a stylized manner? The answers shed light on the wartime situation; title: of minorities in California.; title: 5 1944 * Swing Shift 123; title: The more female became its workforce, the more aviation developed an industrial; title: culture far ahead of its time. The individual worker, significantly female, now became; title: the focal point of creative organization and productivity. Henry J. Kaiser, mean-; title: while, was perfecting the art of mass production and a full program of workers'; title: benefits.; title: 6 1945 * Hollywood Canteen 159; title: Even in wartime, Hollywood was concerned with positioning itself. Through its films,; title: stars in uniform, and USO entertainments at home and at the front, Hollywood made; title: sure that World War II remained a celebrity event.; title: 7 1946 * Homecoming 183; title: Homecoming had its anxieties and adjustments as well as its elations and triumphs.; title: The fact that so many returning veterans were choosing California as the place to; title: come home to only compounded the drama. Simultaneously, California was serving; title: the needs of those who wanted to fit back in as soon as possible and those who were; title: nursing a rebellious resentment.; title: 8 1947 Black Dahlia 213; title: In the sad life and tragic death of one damaged V-girl, the underside of home-front; title: and post-war Los Angeles stood revealed. Still, for all its shoddiness, the City of Angels; title: possessed a certain sassy, savvy energy. It was, among other things, a Front Page kind; title: of town where life was lived by many on the edge, and that made for good copy and; title: good film noir.; title: 9 1948 * Honey Bear 241; title: While Earl Warren was steering California through the post-war era, his photogenic; title: family was helping forge a new way of communicating political value. When youngest; title: daughter Honey Bear contracted polio, all California held its breath and waited.; title: Honey Bear, after all, embodied the post-war hopes of an entire state.; title: 10 1949 * Mexicali Rose 281; title: Reactivated by the Cold War, the Depression-era clash of Reds and Red-hunters; title: resurfaced with a vengeance. When it came to Red-baiting, no one could outperform; title: a portly ex-bandleader state senator from the Folks. It was not a pleasant time.; title: 11 1950 * Police Action 308; title: As the 4oth Division of the California National Guard shipped out for Korea, the; title: regents of the University of California were pursuing a police action of their own. At; title: stake, among other things, was the question of just exactly who was going to control; title: California and its university.; title: Notes 340; title: Bibliographical Essay 346; title: Acknowledgments 365; title: Index 367.