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

by Jane Mersky Leder

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.

Genres: History, World War II

240 pages, Hardcover

First published September 30, 2006

Reviews

[Shelley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm iffy on this rating. When it was good, it was amazing. When it wasn't, it was seriously annoying. This is basically divided by: if sex meant intercourse, it was an interesting and new look at the war and wartime relations; if sex meant gender, it was a plodding, bland rehash by an angry feminist. I totally get it - women were screwed over (so to speak) in the 40s. It was a hard time to be a woman, wife, girlfriend, easy lay, I am well convinced. But when the author talked about gender, she would just go on and on telling us about the injustice. In all other parts, she let the women who experienced the war talk about their lives and the stories spoke for themselves. The books works well as an example of the bonuses of showing vs. telling.

Loved the good parts, though. I enjoyed seeing the different experiences and morals in action, as well as quite a bit more about soldiers overseas than I had learned about in other books. But the descent into gender bias is what made me take over 3 months to read the damn thing.

[Jess · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was okay. The beginning was really interesting, but I was trudging through the middle and most of the end, when it just seemed to be "The History of VD". Not exactly what I was interested in when I picked this book up..