The World within War: America's Combat Experience in World War II

by Gerald F. Linderman

Gerald Linderman has created a seamless and highly original social history, authoritatively recapturing the full experience of combat in World War II. Drawing on letters and diaries, memoirs and surveys, Linderman explores how ordinary frontline American soldiers prepared for battle, related to one another, conceived of the enemy, thought of home, and reacted to battle itself. He argues that the grim logic of protracted combat threatened soldiers not only with the loss of limbs and lives but with growing isolation from country and commanders and, ultimately, with psychological disintegration.

Genres: History, World War II, American History, Military History, Nonfiction, European History, War

416 pages, Paperback

First published August 28, 1997

About the author

Gerald Floyd Linderman earned his bachelor's degree from Yale University and his MA and Ph.D. from Northwestern University. A former foreign service officer at the State Department, he taught at the University of Michigan from 1969 until his retirement in 1995.

Reviews

[Rick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent narrative of the experiences of combat soldiers during World War II. While the book has the feel of a text book here and there, one cannot underestimate the impact of looking at and hearing about battle through the eyes and feelings of the combat soldiers themselves. Sourced from personal letters and memoirs, the tale has realism and immediacy.

The author broke his story down into the contingent parts: expectations of going to battle, coping with combat, fighting the Germans, fighting the Japanese, discipline, the appeal of battle, and returning home. Wonderful if painful-to-read-in-parts storyline that will breath much more life into combat than the usual heroic tales of the martial arts during World War II. Recommended.

[Jill H. · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author has done a tremendous job pulling together letters, memoirs, and oral histories of those in the infantry who fought in World War II.....and based on similarities in the feelings of these men about combat, has put together a book that will fascinate as well as repel the reader. He sets forth stages of the states of mind of the men who were going into battle for the first time and moves through the experience of combat to the end of the individuals' service....how they dealt with the fear of death, the sight of dead friends, dead enemies,killing another human being, and the difference between the experiences in the European theater as opposed to those of the Pacific. I often have wondered how men could be so brave...the common man facing something that had the mystique of glory but was, in fact, pure horror. This book helps to answer that question and it is chilling. Recommended.

[Josh Stewart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book! It is a collection of letters and memoirs from WWII combat soldiers. It is graphic in parts as the author doesn't edit any of these letters or memoirs. He presents the actual primary sources and then gives his analysis of what is happening. For those of us who haven't been to war, it helps in some small way to give a glimps of what it might be like. It gives one a much greater appreciation for the sacrifices made in our behalf.

[Trieste · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed Linderman's book. There are about a million books to choose from if you want a historiography of WWII, but Linderman's view into the lives of the soldiers who fought in it is unparalleled. Great gender analysis too. Linderman totally humanizes the soldiers and makes them relatable for those of us who have never seen combat.

[Keith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book on World War 2 actual experiences of war by individuals. Draws on many accounts.

[Missmath144 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is an excellent look into the hearts and minds of soldiers during WWII. One of the things it shows is the difference in behavior in the various theaters of the war. In Western Europe (if I'm remembering my theaters correctly), German and American soldiers would cease firing in order to allow the other side to bring back their wounded. Soldiers would even rescue wounded soldiers of the opposing force and care for them. In Eastern Europe and the Pacific theater, wounded soldiers would be killed. Prisoners would be killed. Men who surrendered would be killed.

Letters from home, or the lack thereof, would lift the soldiers' spirits or leave them in the doldrums. However, they often felt they were living totally distinct lives from the lives they lived at home. They behaved with a different code of honor, often in ways that would have shocked their families. Some men even put away all memorabilia from home, finding that it interferred with their functioning in this different world.

[Luke Hughes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Admirable in its systematic, and unflinching, analysis of the world within war.