Read When Books Went to War Online

Authors: Molly Guptill Manning

When Books Went to War (21 page)

 

In hospitals, patients eagerly read books to pass the time. Here, a Red Cross volunteer gives a volume of Shakespeare to an American wounded in Tunisia.

 

Knowing hardcover books were unsuitable for men on the frontlines, Malcolm Johnson, of Doubleday, Doran & Co., helped develop troop-friendly paperbacks and revolutionized American publishing in the process.

 

During the war, Armed Services Editions were bound on their short side and each page had double columns of text. Aft er V-J Day, ASEs, like
The Chicago Cubs
, were printed in upright format. The front cover of each ASE had a thumbnail image of the hardcover edition, the back cover described the book, and the inside back cover included a list of that month's titles.

 

Some servicemen were eager to read
Strange Fruit
and
Forever Amber
, as they contained sex scenes considered so indecent that they were banned in Boston. “If you've ever seen books that were completely worn out by reading,” one serviceman said, “it was the copies of
Forever Amber
.”

 

Betty Smith's
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
and Rosemary Taylor's
Chicken Every Sunday
were beloved for their wholesome accounts of American life. They were compared to taking a leave or receiving a good letter from home.

 

Soldiers wrote heartfelt letters to Betty Smith, crediting her book with instilling a sense of purpose, helping them survive battles, and just plain cheering them up. Smith responded to most of her fan letters, even sending autographed photographs upon request.

 

For hospital patients, nothing could break On LSTs, the stress of imminent battle the monotony of spending days in bed like could be suffocating. Books were a a book. Paperbacks were in high demand, godsend when it came to distraction. since they could be held comfortably for hours while a soldier was flat on his back convalescing.

 

On LSTs, the stress of imminent battle could be suff ocating. Books were a godsend when it came to distraction.

 

Once an area was secured, libraries were established. In Italy, this mobile library is housed in a tent, and soldiers recline in folding lounge chairs as they read.

 

Publishers and authors received bags of mail from grateful servicemen. ASEs were the most reliable form of amusement; they helped a generation get through the war.

NINE

Germany's Surrender and the Godforsaken Islands

There were people who cared for him and people who didn't, and those who didn't hate him were out to get him . . . But they couldn't touch him . . . because he was Tarzan, Mandrake, Flash Gordon. He was Bill Shakespeare. He was Cain, Ulysses, the Flying Dutchman; he was Lot in Sodom, Deidre of the Sorrows, Sweeney in the nightingales among trees.

 

—
JOSEPH HELLER
,
CATCH
-22

 

A
S AMERICANS TAUNTED
death and marched toward victory in Europe in 1945, they were carrying tens of thousands of copies of titles that were forbidden in the lands they walked on. Many authors outlawed by Germany made an appearance by way of the ASEs. American servicemen toted Ernest Hemingway's
Selected Short Stories
; Jack London's
Sea-Wolf
,
White Fang
,
The Cruise of the Snark
, and
The Call of the Wild
; and Voltaire's
Candide
. Later editions of ASEs included Thomas Mann's
Selected Short Stories
; Stefan Zweig's
The Royal Game
; H. G. Wells's
The Time Machine
,
The Island of Dr. Moreau
,
The War of the Worlds
, and
The Food of the Giants
; and Erich Maria Remarque's
The Arch of Triumph
. What weapons could be more fitting for the liberation of a continent than the very books that had been banned and burned there?

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