1941: The America That Went to War

A detailed, panoramic portrait of America and its people in the twelve months leading up to its entry into WWII.   From Joe DiMaggio’s still unbroken hitting streak to the infamy of Pearl Harbor, 1941: The America That Went to War immerses readers in a world of big bands and bigger headlines.   The America of 1941 was very different from the country we know today. Most people were just getting back on their feet after the Great Depression. Access to the political process was uneven, ethnic stereotypes were widely accepted, and concerns with social justice were only beginning to expand.   After the Depression, most workers found jobs related to the growing defense industry, but the nation was fearful of the foreign wars that made increased armaments necessary. Yet everything was about to change with the forced entry onto the world stage. Christie describes all this and more, demonstrating that one cannot understand the United States during and after World War II without understanding the country that entered the war.   Organized in a series of vignettes representing focal events of each month, 1941 show both what Americans were doing and how they saw themselves and the world in that last year of peace.   “A fascinating glimpse of a country passing through the twilight of splendid isolation to becoming a world power.” —New York Journal of Books