American Girls, Beer, and Glenn Miller
GI Morale in World War II
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Narrated by:
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Richard Teimer
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By:
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James J. Cooke
About this listen
As World War II dawned in Europe, General George C. Marshall, the new Army Chief of Staff, had to acknowledge that American society - and the citizens who would soon become soldiers - had drastically changed in the previous few decades. Almost every home had a radio, movies could talk, and driving in an automobile to the neighborhood soda fountain was part of everyday life. A product of newly created mass consumerism, the soldier of 1940 had expectations of material comfort, even while at war. Historian James J. Cooke presents the first comprehensive look at how Marshall's efforts to cheer soldiers far from home resulted in the enduring morale services that the Army provides still today.
Marshall understood that civilian soldiers provided particular challenges and wanted to improve the subpar morale services that had been provided to Great War doughboys. Frederick Osborn, a civilian intellectual, was called to head the newly formed morale branch, which quickly became the Special Services Division. Hundreds of on-post movie theaters showing first-run movies at reduced prices, service clubs where GIs could relax, and inexpensive cafeterias were constructed. The Army Exchange System took direction under Brigadier General Joseph Byron, offering comfort items at low prices; the PX sold everything from cigarettes and razor blades to low-alcohol beer in very popular beer halls.
The great civic organizations - the YMCA, the Salvation Army, the Jewish Welfare Board, and others - were brought together to form the United Service Organizations (USO). At USO Camp Shows, admired entertainers like Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, and Frances Langford brought home-style entertainment to soldiers within the war zones.
The Special Services Division, PX, and USO were crucial elements in maintaining GI morale, and Cooke’s work makes clear the lasting legacy of these efforts to boost the average soldier’s spirits almost a century ago.
©2012 The Curators of the University of Missouri (P)2014 Redwood AudiobooksListeners also enjoyed...
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- By: Robert S. Norris
- Narrated by: Peter Johnson
- Length: 23 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Revealed for the first time in Racing for the Bomb, Groves played a crucial and decisive role in the planning, timing, and targeting of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki missions. Norris offers new insights into the complex and controversial questions surrounding the decision to drop the bomb in Japan and Groves' actions during World War II, which had a lasting imprint on the nuclear age and the Cold War that followed.
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Fascinating
- By Jean on 04-22-15
By: Robert S. Norris
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Instrument of War
- The German Army 1914-18
- By: Dennis E. Showalter
- Narrated by: Julian Elfer
- Length: 10 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Drawing on more than a half-century of research and teaching, Dennis Showalter presents a fresh perspective on the German Army during World War I. Showalter surveys an army at the heart of a national identity, driven by - yet also defeated by - warfare in the modern age, that struggled to capitalize on its victories, and ultimately forgot the lessons of its defeat.
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German Side Of WW1
- By David A on 06-21-18
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In the Ruins of Empire
- By: Ronald Spector
- Narrated by: Michael Prichard
- Length: 12 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Americans are accustomed to thinking that World War II ended on August 14, 1945, when the Japanese surrendered unconditionally. Yet on the mainland of Asia, in the vast arc stretching from Manchuria to Burma, peace was a brief, fretful interlude. In some parts of Asia, such as Java and Southern Indonesia, only a few weeks passed before new fighting broke out between nationalist forces and the former colonial powers.
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Informative, but not an engrossing listen
- By S on 02-19-08
By: Ronald Spector
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Patton
- By: Alan Axelrod
- Narrated by: Brian Emerson
- Length: 7 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
George S. Patton was a general who achieved greatness in his field by contradicting his own nature. A cavalryman steeped in romantic military tradition, he nevertheless pulled a reluctant American military into the most advanced realms of highly mobile armored warfare. An autocratic snob, Patton created unparalleled rapport and loyalty with the lowliest private in his command.
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Odd Reading, Great Book
- By Chris Reich on 01-23-09
By: Alan Axelrod
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The Rise of the G.I. Army, 1940-1941
- The Forgotten Story of How America Forged a Powerful Army Before Pearl Harbor
- By: Paul Dickson
- Narrated by: Shawn Compton
- Length: 13 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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The story of America's astounding industrial mobilization during World War II has been told. But what has never been chronicled before Paul Dickson's The Rise of the G. I. Army, 1940-1941 is the extraordinary transformation of America's military from a disparate collection of camps with dilapidated equipment into a well-trained and spirited army 10 times its prior size in little more than 18 months.
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Impact of Leadership
- By Amazon Customer on 11-06-20
By: Paul Dickson
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The Generals: American Military Command from World War II to Today
- By: Thomas E. Ricks
- Narrated by: William Hughes
- Length: 15 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
A widening gulf between performance and accountability has caused history to be kinder to the American generals of World War II than to those of later wars. In The Generals we meet leaders from World War II to the present who rose to the occasion - and those who failed.
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Provocative
- By Jean on 04-30-15
By: Thomas E. Ricks
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Desert Redleg: Artillery Warfare in the First Gulf War
- American Warriors Series
- By: L. Scott Lingamfelter
- Narrated by: Bill Nevitt
- Length: 13 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
When Saddam Hussein's Iraq invaded Kuwait in August 1990, triggering the First Gulf War, a coalition of 35 countries led by the United States responded with Operation Desert Storm, which culminated in a 100-hour coordinated air strike and ground assault that repelled Iraqi forces from Kuwait. Though largely forgotten in descriptions of the war, an eight-day barrage of artillery fire made this seemingly rapid offensive possible. At the forefront of this offensive were the brave field artillerymen known as "redlegs".
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Excellent account of the Gulf War.
- By Tim on 02-22-24
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Brute
- The Life of Victor Krulak, U.S. Marine
- By: Robert Coram
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 12 hrs
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
From the earliest days of his 34-year military career, Victor "Brute" Krulak displayed a remarkable facility for applying creative ways of fighting to the Marine Corps. He went on daring spy missions, was badly wounded, pioneered the use of amphibious vehicles, and masterminded the invasion of Okinawa. In Korea, he was a combat hero and invented the use of helicopters in warfare.
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Leaves a deep impression while also entertaining
- By PaulaD on 04-26-15
By: Robert Coram
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Marshall and His Generals
- U.S. Army Commanders in World War II
- By: Stephen R. Taaffe
- Narrated by: James Anderson Foster
- Length: 17 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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General George C. Marshall, chief of staff of the US Army during World War II, faced the daunting task not only of overseeing two theaters of a global conflict but also of selecting the best generals to carry out American grand strategy. Marshall and His Generals is the first and only book to focus entirely on that selection process and the performances, both stellar and disappointing, that followed from it. Stephen Taaffe explores how and why Marshall selected the Army's commanders.
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Marshall's Black Book
- By Jean on 12-18-17
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The Harlem Hellfighters
- When Pride Met Courage
- By: Walter Dean Myers, Bill Miles
- Narrated by: Corey Allen
- Length: 2 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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New York Times best-selling author Walter Dean Myers and renowned filmmaker Bill Miles deftly tell the true story of the unsung American heroes of the 369th Infantry Regiment of World War I in The Harlem Hellfighters: When Pride Met Courage. At a time of widespread bigotry and racism, the African American soldiers of the 369th Infantry Regiment put their lives on the line in the name of democracy.
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Great Accessible History
- By Christopher on 02-21-21
By: Walter Dean Myers, and others
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The Jedburghs
- The Secret History of the Allied Special Forces, France 1944
- By: Will Irwin
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 10 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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The first full history of the pioneering Special Forces units of World War II, dropped behind German lines into France to assist with the D-Day landings, told by a former U.S. Special Forces colonel with unique access to surviving veterans.
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Really Enjoyed It
- By Alex on 01-19-06
By: Will Irwin
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The Education of Henry Adams
- By: Henry Adams
- Narrated by: David Colacci
- Length: 19 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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As a journalist, historian, and novelist born into a family that included two past presidents of the United States, Henry Adams was constantly focused on the American experiment. An immediate bestseller awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1919, The Education of Henry Adams recounts his own and the country's education from 1838, the year of his birth, to 1905, incorporating the Civil War, capitalist expansion, and the growth of the United States as a world power.
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A Book EVERYONE should read once.
- By Darwin8u on 04-17-12
By: Henry Adams