Best War Ever America And World War Ii History Essay

Best War Ever America And World War Ii History Essay The objective of this book is to subject the chief features of the Good War myth to bright analysis in the hope of present an additional realistic picture, one that does not demean the achievement of the United States and of liberal democracy but that at the same time does not diminish the stress, suffering, problems, and failures inevitably faced by a society at war. The war was good for the economy. It was liberating for women. It was a war of tanks and airplanes — a cleaner war than World War I. Americans were united. Soldiers were proud. It was a time of prosperity, sound morality, and power. But according to historian Michael Adams, our memory is distorted, and it has left us with a misleading — even dangerous — legacy. Challenging many of our common assumptions about the period, Adams argues that our experience of World War II was positive but also disturbing, creating problems that continue to plague us today. Michael C Adams has contributed to The Best W ar Ever: America and World War II as an author. Michael C. C. Adams, a professor of history at Northern Kentucky University, is the author of â€Å"The Great Adventure: Male Desire and the Coming of World War I† (1990).   Much of the events of WWII has been mythologized not only by Hollywood and government propaganda, and over the years this mythology has been perpetuated by those who lived through the war themselves. Michael C. C. Adams has sought to expose these stories for what they are, fabrication and oversimplifications, and provide the basic facts that facilitate a truer understanding of WWII and the world wide cultural changes surrounding it, both before and after the war itself. In chapter one, â€Å"Mythmaking and the War†, Adams sets out the myth itself, as defined by Hollywood dramatization, government propaganda, advertisement agencies, and the revised memories of those who stayed home, as well as those who fought in the war itself. The war became  "America’s golden age, a peak in the life of society when everything worked out and the good guys definitely got a happy ending.† (Adams, 2) The WWII era came to serve a purpose; to be the bygone age which America once was, and if worked hard enough for, could be again. It was, in a sense, America’s Garden of Eden, the time and place where all things were right. Of course, this was a manufactured ideal, what Adams calls a â€Å"usable past.† â€Å"In creating a usable past, we seek formulas to apply in solving today’s problems. Americans believe that WWII proved one rule above all others†¦it is usually better to fight than to talk.† (Adams, 4) â€Å"To make WWII into the best war ever, we must leave out the area bombings and other questionable aspects while exaggerating the good things. The war myth is distorted not so much in what it says as in what it doesn’t say.† (Adams, 7) This applies not only to the war itself, but a lso to the home front.