1941: Our Lives in a World on the Edge

by William K. Klingaman

Captures the turbulence of a historic year that saw Germany poised on the brink of victory, Roosevelt negotiating with the Japanese, the publication of "For Whom the Bell Tolls," and DiMaggio's fifty-six-game hitting streak

Genres: History

516 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1988

Reviews

[Jill H. · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author of "1919, The Year Our World Began" takes a look at the pivotal year of 1941 and places the reader right in the middle of the flow of the times. Attention is paid to each of the players in the year which ended with the beginning of WWII........politicians, screen stars, dictators, radio personalities, scientists, and the "common man". It is a panorama of a turning point in world history and is presented in a vivid and readable style. A good read for the history buff.

[Shawn Thrasher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full of bits of information about politics, the war, music, the movies, historical figures, and what was happening in one year. My favorite story so far is that of Berthold Brecht, escaping the Nazis to Moscow with his wife, son, AND mistress. Stuck in Moscow, gets a visa to flee to the United States just a few weeks before the Germans invade Russia. If he'd waited a bit longer, he would have been shot by the Russians for being a German.

I certainly think in a time when Americans wonder why the hell we're internationally involved in the affairs of nearly every county on earth, it's interesting to compare and contrast now and then. Klingaman wrote: "After this war, there could be no American retreat into isolation, for the world was a very different place in September 1945 than it had been in January 1941" and "Our lives would never be the same."