THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES

ISBN-13: 978-0-275-98879-1
Writer: Jane Mersky Leder
Title: Thanks for the Memories
Subtitle: Love, Sex, and World War II
Introduction: Jane Mersky Leder
Language: English
Edition: First Edition
Place of Publication: Westport, CT, and London
Publisher: Praeger Publishers
Year of Publication: 2006
Format: 160x242mm
Pages: xxix+185; Selected Bibliography, 169,  Index, 175
Illustrations: 41 black and white pictures; cover images by CORBIS
Binding: black boards in duotone dust jacket designed by Laura Shaw Design, Inc.
Weight: 538 gr.
Original Price: N/A
Entry No.: 2013039
Entry Date: 23^rd October 2013
Discarded book: East Riding of Yorkshire L.I.S.

 

 

BOOK DESCRIPTION

The collective consciousness of World War II revolved around the virtues of bravery, sacrifice, and commitment. Members of the “The Greatest Generation” toed political and social lines in hopes of winning the war. They fell into lockstep, asking very few questions, and breaking few social and sexual mores. Or did they?

In fact, World War II was –like all wars–a time of sexual experimentation and a general loosening of morals. It was a time of conflicting emotions and conflicting messages, a time of great sacrifice, and a time of discovery, when some groups, especially women, experienced a relaxing of bonds that had kept them in check. Thanks for the Memories: Love, Sex, and World War II is the true story of how the World War II generation responded to the passions of war, and how those passions changed their lives–and the relationships between the sexes–forever.

But this book is more than that. As Jane Mersky Leder writes, “Thanks for the Memories opens the hearts and memories of a generation that is dying, by one estimate, at the rate of more than 1,000 a day.” It exposes the sexual and romantic escapades of “The Greatest Generation” and underscores how those four war years revolutionized relationships (including those between gays), and how it helped set the stage for the second wave of the women’s liberation movement.

“Many who never thought their stories muttered,” Leder writes, “now feel the pull of limited time, and the importance of leaving an accurate account for their children and grandchildren of what it was like to be a young man or young woman during World War II.

This is their collective story.