The Good War: An Oral History of World War II by Studs Terkel.

In The Good War, Studs Terkel used an approach similar to that of his earlier classic, Hard Times: An Oral History of the Great Depression (1970), seeking to produce a history of the era by interviewing scores of Americans and others who had served either in the war itself or on the home front. The volume is divided into four sections, or books. The first section includes individual memories of the attack on Pearl Harbor; recollections of subsequent fighting in the Pacific, Europe, and Africa; thoughts of women who identified with “Rosie the Riveter”; and memories of ordinary soldiers. As one example of the memories presented in this section, Dempsy Travis, recalling the Jim Crow aspects of the war, describes it as “the turning point of my life.” The second section includes interviews with individuals of high rank, both military and civilian; people who bombed others or who were bombed; people who grew up in Europe and Asia as well as the United States; memories of D Day; and an interview with one of the Andrews Sisters. In this section, Lean Wood, a Londoner visiting New York, remembers the bombing of London and the deaths of young children who had “cardboard coffins.”