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December 1941

There are thousands of written accounts about World War II and hundreds of movies and documentaries that leverage real time news footage from December 7, 1941, and the days immediately following the attack on Pearl Harbor.  This account is unique in that it focuses on the month of December 1941 and specifically leverages published news accounts from that time.

After providing a synopsis of “how we got here,” the author details each day from December 1 to December 31, 1941, to communicate what was happening in all aspects of American life and culture.  The reader gets a true sense of what it was like going from a society split over involvement in the European War, consigned to an “uneasy and nervous peace” on December 6, to a unified and defiant people readying for war on December 7.

The actions the government took to move from a peacetime to wartime economy starting December 8 are remarkable and not well understood, certainly not by me.  Recognizing the free market principles that were simply tossed aside by the government (and business) to ready the nation for a world war in favor of a command economy (at least in some areas) are simply fascinating given the reverence we currently give to lassez-faire.  It is a good read.

Amy 2017

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