REVIEWS

What others have said about this book

John Strohmeyer

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author of Crisis in Bethlehem: Big Steel's Battle to Survive, and Extreme Conditions: Big Oil and the Transformation of Alaska.

"This book offers a new insight into the era of the Greatest Generation. Ed Steers, Jr., has lived the World War II years, he has researched the impact on families and institutions with great diligence, and he has written it in an unpretentious, highly readable style. I found it particularly delightful because I grew up in the neighborhoods he profiles. But I was most impressed from a professional standpoint. It is an important dimension of history."

DON'T YOU KNOW THERE'S A WAR ON?

December 7, 1941, brought about a cataclysmic change to America. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor catapulted the country into a global war that everyone expected, but still caught most by complete surprise. And yet, within a matter of months, the country was transformed into the greatest arsenal of war the world had ever seen. Over 16 million men and women served in uniform while nearly four times that number became citizen volunteers on the home front answering their country's call to service.

Don't You Know There's A War On? is a trip down memory lane during those challenging years when an entire nation went to war. Every man, women, and child was called into service, and few, if any, refused the call.

This book is not just about volunteers and sacrifice. It also tells the story of one of the nation's best kept secrets in the Navy's incredible "V" program, the story of Stubborn Hellion, Japanese "balloon bombs," and the bombing of Oregon by an ingenious Japanese plan.

Don't You Know There's A War On? is a delightful read about those momentous days during World War II when America was forever changed by what many historians describe as the defining event of the 20th century.

CHAPTER FIVE

Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without.

If you don't need it, DON'T BUY IT.

War Ration Book Two

The fall of 1941 found the American people enjoying a prosperity they had not experienced in over twenty-five years. Employment and wages were on the rise, resulting in an increase in consumer spending. At the same time, the war in Europe created such a demand for war materials that shortages began appearing in certain consumer products even though we were not at war. On the other side of the globe the success of the Japanese in Asia cut off the United States's access to rubber. Other imports fell sharply as a result of conquest and the sinking of ships that carried goods destined for the American market. These losses, coupled with the conversion of many factories to war production, resulted in the scarcity of certain products and the outright elimination of others even before we were at war. Manufacturers of rubber bathing caps, sewing machines, and automobiles converted their factoties to producing life rafts, machine guns, and tanks.