When Books Went to War

75 Years Ago—Apr. 8, 1940:  Gallup poll: 84% of Americans want Allies to win,      2% want German victory, only 23% want US to join war.

I found the above information quite interesting.  On second thought, realizing how many Americans in the area where I was raised were only 1 generation from being born in German, it is almost surprising that more were not still supporting their “vaterland.” I remember, as a child, hearing German spoken by many elderly outside of church. This was at least 10 years after the end of the War.   ----   Wonder what would have happened if anyone spoke Japanese!

  

  On a happier note, I received two birthday gifts from my oldest daughter over the weekend. (My birthday is in Feb.---she takes after her mother!)  So excited to read both  books.  Kristine heard a discussion on NPR about When Books Went to War, and thought of my love of history and reading.  She ordered The Immortal Wife because it was one of the books that caused protests from some that the government was dispersing lewd, licentious literature to our troops! 

   I opened The Immortal Wife randomly.  The first line I read was a reference to General Winfield Scott. For most, this would mean zip, but we lived in Ft. Scott, Kansas for twenty years, and all of our children attended kindergarten at Winfield Scott Elementary School.  Amazing the connections our lives have.  Kind of like the way different people in my book Just Doin’ Our Duty (trying to get professionally published) came to my attention, and had to be included.   

This book was not pictured on Amazon. So happy Kristine gave me the “Armed Services Edition” instead of the original.  When I saw the author was Irving Stone, I thought, What have I read that he wrote? How do I know his name?   He wrote The Agony and the Ecstasy: A Biographical Novel of Michelangelo  which I read 50 years ago as a senior in high school.