Thanks for the Memories: Love, Sex, and World War II

Thanks for the Memories: Love, Sex, and World War II

by Jane Mersky Leder
ISBN-10:
0275988791
ISBN-13:
9780275988791
Pub. Date:
09/30/2006
Publisher:
Bloomsbury Academic
ISBN-10:
0275988791
ISBN-13:
9780275988791
Pub. Date:
09/30/2006
Publisher:
Bloomsbury Academic
Thanks for the Memories: Love, Sex, and World War II

Thanks for the Memories: Love, Sex, and World War II

by Jane Mersky Leder
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Overview

Thanks for the Memories destroys the historical myth that young men and women went about the business of war and stayed on the straight and narrow path. Rather, World War II provided new opportunities for sexual experimentation, for hasty marriages, for flourishing prostitution—and for love connections that have stood the test of time. Young men in the military, far away from family and home, did things they might never have done. Young women, many of whom went to work for the first time, experienced a freedom and independence most women had never known. Because of the war, courtships were cut short, couples married more quickly than normal, and husbands and wives were often separated for several years. Despite attempts to get back to normal after the war and the apparent togetherness of the 1950s, World War II had set change in motion, heralding the second wave of the women's liberation movement.

The collective consciousness of World War II revolved around the virtues of bravery, sacrifice, and commitment. Members of 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 woman, experienced a relaxing of bonds that had kept them in check. Thanks For The Memories: Love, Sex, and World War II 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 mattered, 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.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780275988791
Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date: 09/30/2006
Edition description: 1ST
Pages: 240
Product dimensions: 6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.56(d)

About the Author

Jane Mersky Leder is a freelance writer and jourbanalist. She is the author of the award-winning book, Dead Serious, as well as Brothers & Sisters: How They Shape Our Lives and Grace & Glory: A Century of Women in the Olympics. Her articles have appeared in numerous publications, including Psychology Today, the Chicago Sun-Times, and American Heritage.

Table of Contents

Introduction Prologue: To My Parents—Morris and Shirley Mersky Chapter One: Derailed Dreams Chapter Two: "Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition" Chapter Three: "Eat, Drink, and Be Merry, for Tomorrow We May Die" Chapter Four: Discrimination in the Ranks Chapter Five: An Army of Service Wives Chapter Six: Waiting Wives and Home Front Popular Culture Chapter Seven: "Over Sexed, Over Fed, Over Paid, Over There" Chapter Eight: "You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To" Chapter Nine: Babies, Suburbia, and the Seeds of Change Selected Bibliography Index Photo essays appear following pages 74 and 154

What People are Saying About This

William H. Chafe

"Lively, moving, evocative and memorable, Thanks For the Memories brings back to us the extraordinary changes that occurred among women and men during World War II, and re-creates for us their pain, joy and courage."

Elaine Tyler May

"Jane Mersky Leder recounts the stories of ordinary people in extraordinary times, and brings the World War II era to life. Beautifully written and poignant, sometimes romantic but not always. Thanks for the Memories recounts how men and women during World War II sought love, sex and security in the midst of the upheavals of wartime."

Sara M. Evans

"Thanks for the Memories vividly portrays the disruptive impact of World War II on relations between men and women, not only in the well documented arena of labor force participation but also in the realms of sex, love, and marriage. The wartime generation, known for its conservative embrace of traditional domesticity in the 1950s, did so after having broken all the rules. Jane Mersky Leder makes a persuasive case that the women's movement in the late 1960s was an aftershock of these seismic shifts whose story, until now, has not been told."

Elaine Tyler May

"Jane Mersky Leder recounts the stories of ordinary people in extraordinary times, and brings the World War II era to life. Beautifully written and poignant, sometimes romantic but not always. Thanks for the Memories recounts how men and women during World War II sought love, sex and security in the midst of the upheavals of wartime."

Elaine Tyler May, author of Homeward Bound: American Families in the Cold War Era

William H. Chafe

"Lively, moving, evocative and memorable, Thanks For the Memories brings back to us the extraordinary changes that occurred among women and men during World War II, and re-creates for us their pain, joy and courage."

William H. Chafe, the Alice Mary Baldwin Professor of History, Duke University

Sara M. Evans

"Thanks for the Memories vividly portrays the disruptive impact of World War II on relations between men and women, not only in the well documented arena of labor force participation but also in the realms of sex, love, and marriage. The wartime generation, known for its conservative embrace of traditional domesticity in the 1950s, did so after having broken all the rules. Jane Mersky Leder makes a persuasive case that the women's movement in the late 1960s was an aftershock of these seismic shifts whose story, until now, has not been told."

Sara M. Evans, University of Minnesota, author of Born for Liberty: A History of Women in America

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