The Darkest Year: The American Homefront, 1941–1942

by William K. Klingaman

The Darkest Year is acclaimed author William K. Klingaman’s narrative history of the American home front from December 7, 1941 through the end of 1942, a psychological study of the nation under the pressure of total war.For Americans on the home front, the twelve months following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor comprised the darkest year of World War Two. Despite government attempts to disguise the magnitude of American losses, it was clear that the nation had suffered a nearly unbroken string of military setbacks in the Pacific; by the autumn of 1942, government officials were openly acknowledging the possibility that the United States might lose the war.Appeals for unity and declarations of support for the war effort in the aftermath of Pearl Harbor made it appear as though the class hostilities and partisan animosities that had beset the United States for decades — and grown sharper during the Depression — suddenly disappeared. They did not, and a deeply divided American society splintered further during 1942 as numerous interest groups sought to turn the wartime emergency to their own advantage.Blunders and repeated displays of incompetence by the Roosevelt administration added to the sense of anxiety and uncertainty that hung over the nation. The Darkest Year focuses on Americans’ state of mind not only through what they said, but in the day-to-day details of their behavior. Klingaman blends these psychological effects with the changes the war wrought in American society and culture, including shifts in family roles, race relations, economic pursuits, popular entertainment, education, and the arts.

Genres: History, American History, Nonfiction, World War II, War, Politics, Military Fiction

372 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 19, 2019

Reviews

[CoachJim · Rating 2 out of 5]

When Americans retired for the evening on December 6, 1941, they were looking forward to a glittering season, with their pockets full of cash and department stores filled with a wealth of material comforts. Although they could see war drifting toward them from a distance, it seemed to still be a long way off. A day later, they were thrust into a conflict for which the nation was painfully unprepared.
Author’s Note, The Darkest Year: The American Home Front 1941-1942, by William K. Klingman (Page ix)

In the first chapter of this book, Before Pearl, the author describes the country as confused, uncertain, and distracted. There was a foreboding that the war would eventually involve the United States. He describes the tension between two goals that were both supported by overwhelming majorities: a determination to stay out of the conflict, and a refusal to allow England to be defeated.

This is an important period of history. While the military commanded all of the attention, the domestic front also endured the war. In fact this period saw sharply escalating taxes, rising prices, and the salary freeze, which left middle-class Americans with the feeling that the government had chosen them to bear the brunt of the war-time sacrifices. This book describes some of the hardships, but does so in an anecdotal manner that loses the reader. The author has chosen some issues like civil defense, rationing, housing for workers, and censorship and describes them over and over. There are issues that are touched on that could have used more analysis. The internment of Japanese American citizens, and the role that women filled in the arsenal of democracy are two that stood out.

A major issue covered here is the lack of preparation prior to Pearl Harbor and the lack of commitment afterwards. Much of the fault is directed towards Roosevelt for his failure to lead. Another part was the censorship of the news regarding the military. Only very positive reports were allowed to be disseminated. Again Roosevelt did little to correct that impression. Even his wife Eleanor “acknowledged that her husband lacked Churchill’s dexterity in presenting uncomfortable truths to the public.” (Page 112)

This lack of preparation and commitment must have been a popular sound bite during this time. A previous book about this period quoted George Marshall as saying that had the United States been more prepared it would have “shortened the war by at least a year” and saved “billions of dollars and 100,000 casualties.”* In this book Bernard Baruch is quoted that “our failure to mobilize properly, and in time, cost us billions of dollars. But infinitely more important, it added months to the conflict and names to the casualty lists.” (Page 217)

Twelve months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the military picture was looking somewhat better. A victory was close at hand in Guadalcanal, and American forces were engaged in battle with German and Italian forces in North Africa. But given the circumstances described in this book, “national unity remained elusive, even in the midst of a total war.” (Page 302)

*From Those Angry Days by Lynne Olson. (page 96-97)

[Mark Mortensen · Rating 4 out of 5]

The December 7, 1941 Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor sent the American home front into panic mode and a sudden change in lifestyle. Rationing was instituted and hoarding was severely frowned upon. It was common when baking at home to borrow an ingredient such as a cup of sugar from a neighbor. As Americans braced for a possible homeland invasion from Japan or Germany, evening blackouts, especially in major cities and coastal locations became normal. For protection, citizens seized as much weaponry and ammunition as possible. Even many from Hollywood voiced their approval for the 2nd Amendment. Clark Gables’ wife, actress Carole Lombard said “Let ‘em come. Pappy and I haven’t been banging away at ducks and skeets all these years for nothing”.

My parents were of the WWII generation. Following the Hawaiian disaster my 20 year old father quickly dropped out of college in the Boston area and enlisted in the army and his dates with my mother were put on hold.

[Jan C · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting and I learned things that I hadn't been aware of before. I wasn't born until after the war, my sister was born in early 1941 and my brother came along in 1944. Needless to say, neither of them have much memory of the war years or how it affected their life in Chicagoland. I recall my mother once showing me ration cards and similar documents. And I did know that the war and rationing was the reason my father stopped taking sugar/cream in his coffee - they had a baby, after all. I expect they had extra gas because my father was a minister and ministers were one of the groups, along with doctors, who received extra gas rations due to the fact that their job frequently needed to drive for their job. No tires, no gas, no sugar - the list goes on.

We often see that Americans have to be dragged into things and support of rationing was another one of those things. As was the war itself. Who knows when America would have become involved if not for Pearl Harbor? Roosevelt had entered into lend-lease with the British but the Republican isolationists had no desire to go along. And with the mid-term elections the democrats lost seats in the House and Senate - nobody liked rationing and they took it out on their officeholders.

No good music during the first year of the war. It sounds like it was pretty miserable. And even worse for Japanese-Americans. Internment and confiscation of property - if they couldn't sell it before they had to leave. So if they were able to sell it was probably for rock bottom prices.

Many factories had to switch over to war production - planes, ammunition, guns, etc. They paid good money though and their towns became boom towns. This could be a true shock if they were located in a formerly small town/rural area.

The thing that surprised me was how little they told the American people about how the war was going. It wasn't going well at the beginning. So the news was censored for most of this year. Morale was low and thus the Doolittle raid really was a PR operation (as I had previously heard/read).

I did find it very interesting in the end.

[Bonnye Reed · Rating 5 out of 5]

GNab . When I think of America's involvement in World War II, my mind goes automatically to our initial involvement in Europe though my mind knows that our stake in the outcome of the battle's in the orient were engaged, first. And as a baby boomer, I had not realized the class and racial problems were as bad as it must have been before the War. I tend to picture them as they were in the 50's and 60's - still bad but not quite so awful as Klingaman pictures them for us as we geared up for battles across the seas. I trust William K. Klingaman explicitly, however as a man with a firm eye on the ways of the world, so am grateful for this look into America's darkest year. I hope we can all learn something from it.

I received a free electronic copy of this history of hometown, U.S.A. from December 6, 1941 through the following year from Netgalley, William K. Klingaman, and St. Martin's Press in exchange for an honest review. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me.

pub date Feb 19, 2019
St. Martin's Press

[Ben House · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Darkest Year: The American Home Front 1941-1942

After the attacks on Pearl Harbor and other places in the Pacific area, Winston Churchill said that he went to sleep peacefully and joyfully because the United States was now in the war. I am glad that he did not have The Darkest Year: The American Home Front 1941-1942 by William K. Klingman to read at that time. It would have given him nightmares.
Understand up front, this is a very enjoyable and informative book. But as I was reading it, I kept wondering how America ever managed to get its act together and win World War II. In my mind, the United States gets into the war and within a year is taking great strides toward winning it. That, too, is true. But this book is a look behind the scenes, mostly away from the centers of power, and beyond the bullet points of the war’s progress in 1942. America, being a big nation, had lots to do, lots of thinking to change, lots of fears–some legitimate, some ungrounded–with lots of unknown factors that we can now know. How likely it was that Germans and Japanese would be bombing or invading the U. S. was a real concern at that time.
Mobilizing an entire nation to war is an incredible task. No doubt many conservatives and libertarians are right on track in their concerns and even opposition to our wars from the past. World War II necessitated bigger and bigger government action. It also necessitated uniting people in their attitudes and commitment. Metal and rubber drives were part of the efforts to get everyone involved. Gas and food rationing put everyone into the war effort.
Some steps were regrettable. Primarily, the internment of Japanese Americans was perhaps understandable at that time, but it was far from just or right. Not surprising, German and Italian Americans were not treated the same. But part of understanding history is trying to put yourself into the time and place where decisions are made and attitudes are formed. That does not free us from the judgment of history, but it humbles us because we are looking back after more than fifty years and not undergoing the same problems.
Along with the bigger issues of the book is its sheer volume of stories, news clips, and anecdotes. After years of studying and teaching history, I am still astounded at how Klingman assembled and organized thousands of details of happenings across the country as people reacted to the war. Sometimes, the paragraphs jump from topic to topic as the author grouped details under the happenings during the months following the attack on Pearl Harbor.
One of the recurring topics in the book was the transition of the American factories from producing mainly peace-time items to creating a war machine. From cars to tanks, from passenger planes to bombers, the retooling and redirecting of the industrial might is powerful. But it is surprising to see how much opposition there was to women taking on jobs in the factories. What were people thinking? If the men were in the military, who would “man” the machinery. Even greater was the opposition to African-Americans to working in factories. There are lots of features of everyday life from the earlier parts of the last century that I admire, but the prevailing racial attitudes were appalling.
One thing that surprised me was the control the government exercised over news from the war front. I always assumed that the Doolittle Raid over Tokyo was headline news after it occurred, but it was suppressed. So were other events, both good and bad. There is the old question of protecting the military’s actions and the public’s right to know. In some cases, information about even mundane things was silenced to keep it out of our enemy’s hands. Such is wartime.
For those, like me, who have read a lot about the military campaigns of World War II will like and should read this book. I like to think of myself as well informed on the 1940s in America, but I was continually realizing how little I knew of life in the States during those years when we were on a crash course to building the most powerful Arsenal of Democracy the world has ever seen.
I recently told my students that I still have a hard time realizing that World War II happened in color. I have countless documentaries about the war, and most are in black and white. Images capture our minds and brand certain periods of history. Getting more and more of those images, terms, and bullet points are essential tools of learning. But there is the need to read the more in-depth studies to see how much more there is to what was happening.
There are always the details and the big picture. That’s why Churchill went to sleep peacefully on the night of December 7, 1941. He could have speculated that there would be many growing pains, false starts, blunders, and insanities in the process from the under-armed, ill equipped, and naïve United States entering into World War II, but 1942, while a dark year for the United States, was the dawning of the Allied victories that would turn the course of the war and the world.
The Darkest Year: The American Home Front 1941-1942 by William K. Klingman was published in February 2019 by St. Martin’s Press. Dr. Klingman has published numerous histories, including The First Century, The Year Without Summer, and specific histories of 1919, 1929, and 1941.

[Nathan Albright · Rating 5 out of 5]

I must admit that I read this book with a high degree of concern that the author would show a particular bias for leftism that I found in the first book I had read by him, but I must admit that the author dealt with a contentious subject, namely the state of the American home front in the year after Pearl Harbor, in a very masterful way.  He simply provided quotes and paraphrases of what a variety of people had to say about diverse matters and kept his own personal editorializing to a minimum.  To be sure, the author's sources were a bit of a convenience sample and he leaned a bit too heavily on some elite sources and did not include the sort of down-home common-folk that would have been most impressive to hear about, but given the way this could have been a strident work with a heavy-handed political agenda, the way that the author included a variety of sources with very different worldviews means that anyone who reads this book will find some people who they agree with in terms of government intervention (or lack thereof) in the economy and the skill (or lack thereof) of America's early efforts at striking back at the Axis during the early days of its presence in World War II.

This particular work of about 300 pages is organized chronologically with an introductory section that discusses, somewhat improbably, the hopes that retailers had about the 1941 Christmas shopping season, before moving into a look at the way that the United States entered World War II and then how the war affected the home front.  The chapters of this book are filled with various anecdotes that talk about quotas of various items, including rubber tires, gasoline for cars, and sugar.  The housing shortages faced by workers, the riots over the rising status of blacks, the entrance of many women into the workforce, and the political struggle over the conduct of war take up a large amount of space, as does the general reluctance of the American public to turn off their lights at night.  The author spends a lot of time discussing and providing quotes about the way that actors and writers thought about things, which turns out to be sometimes quite uncharitable at times.  In this accomplished work, the author demonstrates that World War II did not bring with it a sense of national unity, no matter how nostalgically it may be remembered in retrospect.

What was the home front like for Americans during World War II?  Well, for one, while a great many men volunteered for service or were drafted (including a lot of baseball players), and a lot of nurses left hospitals to help out with military efforts, a great many people attempted various means, like getting married or even catching sexually transmitted diseases, to avoid military service.  The author details some corruption within government circles and the way that some people lacked any interest in following the laws and rules that were designed to ensure adequate logistics for the military.  It may have been thought that the United States did a good job at preserving both guns and butter, but the book demonstrates that hoarding and panics for such items as golf balls were frequent and that the home front was a good deal less quiescent than was often thought to be the case.  FDR and Republicans in Congress had to finely balance political concerns with the larger goal of winning the war while also providing as well as possible for the well-being of the American people, and there were (and are) many varying views as to how this was done and how it could have been done better.  Quite against my expectations, the author demonstrates how one can write thoughtfully about such subjects by letting one's own sources do as much of the editorializing as possible and leaving the reader to decide for oneself whose accounts are the most plausible and reasonable to assent to.

[Cav · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Darkest Year was an interesting look back at a slice of American culture.

Author William K. Klingaman has taught at the University of Virginia and the University of Maryland. He is the co-author The Year Without Summer with Nicholas P. Klingaman, as well as the author of narrative histories of the years 1918, 1929 and 1941.

The Darkest Year details the American climate before and during their entry into the Second World War. Klingaman details the mass hysteria of the era; including increasing paranoia around German, Italian, and Japanese Americans. The climate particularly soured around Japanese-Americans after the bombing of Pearl Harbour. Klingaman writes of the widespread fear of subversive Japanese-Americans, who were thought to pose a great danger at home. Fear from the public led to false reports of Japanese bombers over American cities, submarines off the shores, and fears that Japanese-produced vegetables would be poisoned.
Klingaman also details the internment of Japanese-Americans here; largely from communities and cities on the West coast of The United States.

The book also details the rationing policies put in place at the time: access to sugar, fat, coffee, meat, gasoline, automobile tires, and most metals became limited, to help support the production of wartime materiel. Klingaman writes of the effects of these shortages on American society.

The story told here by Klingaman was interesting. He tells the reader about how the government and media spun events at the time, as well as some interesting responses by the public, including the formations of many militias, and widespread racist sentiment towards Japanese-Americans.

I found the writing here fairly decent, albeit a tad on the dry side. By giving the reader a ground-level account of daily life in wartime America, reading the book almost felt like stepping into a time machine. It's too bad that the book didn't include any historical pictures from this time, as I feel they could have really added to the context here...

You will probably like this one if you appreciate historical stories and/or anecdotes. If you were expecting a fast-paced exciting account, you might be a bit disappointed...
I would still recommend this one to armchair historians, or anyone else interested.
3.5 stars.

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting perspective on WW2. Usually hear about the very beginning and the end, but not the other early parts. Interesting take to hear about the concerns and scarcity/hoarding issues.

[Rick · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was very disappointed by William Klingaman's work. Mainly because it didn't really explore any new territory. and glossed over the main areas. We are told about how there was a great fear on the west coast and yet the fear is portrayed as something that just happened and we're on to the next. There were some interesting parts about the transition to a warm time economy but it never jells. The parts about training a new army were also heading towards an interesting examination when the bottom fell out. Lastly, I don't recall any serious examination on the topic of casualties hitting home. The Battle of Guadalcanal and its terrible costs were glossed over as well.

I would say pass on this. There are so many other great books on WWII and this isn't just worth your time.

[Peter Goodman · Rating 5 out of 5]

“The Darkest Year: the American home front, 1941-1942,” by William K. Klingaman (St. Martins, 2019). Klingaman presents a portrait of the United States in the year after Pearl Harbor from a perspective I have not encountered before. In my popular history mind, immediately after Pearl Harbor Americans became as one, burying differences political, racial, labor-related in a single-minded effort to turn the American industrial juggernaut to military purposes, out to beat the Axis. Not so, says Klingaman. He uses mostly primary documents, newspaper, magazines, letters, diaries, etc, with a few carefully chosen histories. He treats oral histories and memoirs “with caution” because memory is eminently fallible. That means, here, that he does not rely on nostalgic recollections from years or decades later. He harvests primarily what Americans were saying and doing at the time, not what they wish they had been doing. And he says that, not only was the nation woefully unprepared for war, but most of the conflicts that had been happening before continued, and in some cases grew much worse. Racism, for example. Unions actively refused to let Negros in; an attempt to build a racially mixed, low-income neighborhood in Detroit resulted in fierce, vicious, violent resistance that metastasized into race riots; workers continued to go on strike. Citizens resisted any home-front war efforts, and the government for months either did not know how or was reluctant to implement rationing or require the people to begin to make real sacrifices. In the month or so after the attack there was, especially on the West Coast, continuous fear of attack and invasion. There were periods of hysteria and panic, based on rumor of Japanese attack. Almost no city had working air raid sirens. There were no blackouts, which meant German submarines had a happy time torpedoing ships, traveling without escort, and clearly market as silhouettes against the brilliant coastline. Not even dim-outs were truly enforced. The draft began draining young men out of the population and the workforce. Women—and African-Americans---slowly began to replace the men on the assembly lines, but with plenty of friction. Rationing began to be introduced, erratically. The first hardships fell upon car owners: the demand for rubber was so great that motorists were not allowed to buy replacements, even if they could be found. Gasoline became extremely scarce. Food began to be limited---everything was going to support the troops. Prostitution flourished around the military bases and in the cities where there were floods of new workers. Housing---families lived in tents, in shacks, chicken coops. Beds were rented in rotation: night shift got to sleep during the day, and vice versa. Meanwhile, Klingaman says, contrary to modern understanding, FDR’s leadership was tentative, contradictory, erratic and even incompetent. One of the greatest frustrations for the home front was the severe censorship imposed by the military. Newspapers carried either sensational accounts of minor skirmishes that could be seen as victories, or no information at all. It took a long time before the administration and the military realized that it would be better to be relatively open about what was happening than trying to deny anything was happening at all. (And yet, in my head, I keep thinking about the real privations the English were dealing with, the harsh conditions in occupied Europe. We were terribly spoiled.) Really an eye-opening book. One very strange thing, however: although the books is about the American home front, the cover photo shows a British Lancaster heavy bomber under construction. A lot of people involved with this book apparently know a lot less about the war than they thought.

https://us.macmillan.com/books/978125...

[Doninaz · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book reports what it was like in America during its opening year of WW II. I was born in the Northeast in 1941. I retained few war-related details, but recalled a pervading unease within my family. Much of this book would have been beyond my comprehension then, so I’m backfilling now.

Homeland reactions.
After an initial period of numbness, personal reactions reflected American geography. Along the coasts, panic mixed with complacency. Although there were panics from unidentified aircraft, air raid tests went largely ignored. But the threat was real. Immediately, U-Boats began preying on US tankers delivering oil along the Northeast coast; beachgoers could observe the offshore destruction. In June, eight German saboteurs landed from U-boats and were captured. And, there were German sympathizers. Japanese subs fired sporadically at land targets. But in Mid-America, lifestyle changes were absorbed with less personal fear. For many, the war seemed remote and unreal. Accordingly, education began to emphasize world geography.

As the year progressed and victories were recognized (Doolittle Raid, 4/18/42; Battle of Midway, 6/4/42; Guadalcanal Landing, 8/7/42; Invasion of North Africa, 11/8/42), reactions at home turned more hostile as Americans realized the US was facing a struggle for survival. And public clamor grew following Japan’s June 1942 seizures in the Aleutian Islands, then an American territory.

Economics.
The war industry brought good jobs and rising wages. But it also brought strikes, inflation, and housing shortages.

Wage pressures and commodity shortages led to increased inflation. Rationing and a hoarding mentality kept tires, sugar, and beef in short supply. Factories abandoned auto production for war vehicles. Businesses requiring household delivery returned to horse-drawn wagons.

Lifestyle.
Daily living was preoccupied with hard work and household provisioning. Personal income was besieged by rising prices and taxes. Personal transportation unrelated to the war effort was curtailed. Gas rationing and carpooling seemed akin to the 1970s. Long-distance calling was discouraged. And, with men in the military and more women entering the workplace, juvenile crime increased.

This book accomplished my objective. It succeeded in depicting the homeland mindset and challenges of early WW II. “The Darkest Year” would be a worthy read for someone with a similar curiosity.

[James E. · Rating 4 out of 5]

We all know the legend. On December 7, 1941, Americans arose as one behind their beloved and noble president to crush three "evil empires." This book teaches us that nothing could be further from the truth. From top to bottom, American society reacted with greed, fraud and self interest.

The president himself and the highest levels of his cabinet cranked out lie after lie. Major military defeats (Bataan, Wake, Guam, etc.) were glossed over as "setbacks" while small advances were described as significant victories.

Special interests of all types (corporations, unions, minorities, women, colleges, local governments) advanced their own interests, each justifying its agenda as "in the interest of the war effort."

Ordinary Americans adjusted to shortages not by "tightening our belts" as believed, but by hoarding goods and by engaging in a flourishing black market. Just a rumor that a good was about to be rationed caused a run on that good, with housewives buying all they could and storing it, even if it was two years worth.

While thousands of men did enlist in the armed forces within days of Pearl Harbor, thousands of others sought a way to avoid the draft. Buying a draft deferment from a "connected" source became as common as buying a rationed good on the black market.

Rather than a belief that "We're all in this together," concern about "others," especially Germans and Japanese, became fear, which in turn became hysteria. FDR's executive order concerning security measures on the coasts was used to rationalize putting American citizens of Japanese ancestry in concentration camps. (An historical footnote: Earl Warren, then the governor of California, supported internment of Japanese Americans while J. Edgar Hoover opposed it).

And Americans did not unite behind their Commander in Chief. In a book full of surprises, one of the most startling is that the Republicans crushed FDR's Democrat Party in the 1942 midterm election, taking an incredible 47 House seats and nine Senate seats.

Nearly every page of the book contains an "I didn't know THAT" moment. I deducted one star only because some of the details are so distasteful as to make reading the book difficult. It is hard to accept the fact that the country was beset with so much greed, resentment, selfishness, and dishonesty in 1942, a time when the nation's existence was, literally, at stake.

[RJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Darkest Year takes place between the Pearl Harbor attack and its first year anniversary. With the depression over & well paying jobs in the defense industry, people had plenty of money to spend, and spend, they did, on new homes, road,train & air travel, clothes, cars, liquor, racetracks, baseball games, and all were looking forward to a materialistic Christmas.It was a time when everything represented a defense motif-ads, cards, toys, magazines. There was even a V for Victory lipstick.
But Americans were not happy with the restrictions of war -food, gasoline, tires, just about everything, eventually. The West Coast hated Japanese residents, wanted them deported or separated from society. Gov't was not truthful about preparedness or the war going badly, and it hyped up small wins to make people think otherwise. Workers left jobs to work for defense job wages, but then, with enlistments and the draft, production was cut. Enter women workers-as long as they dressed modestly. On the East Coast, U Boats could be seen blowing up merchant ships; thousands of sailors died.
It is with this background that every page is filled with examples of daily life and activities of Americans across the land. Needing steel, prisoners offered to contribute their bars ; ), housing was impossible in defense towns; men paid to sleep in chairs. Needing cotton, wool for army use, men wore victory suits - no trouser cuffs, pleats, shoulder pads, patch pockets. Empty toothpaste tubes were returned. Highway speed was cut to 35/40 mph to conserve gas/rubber tires. Bikes sold out. Congressmen demanded unlimited gas, voted themselves large pensions (things never change, do they?) until threatened with fines and prison. (People sent them used razors, false teeth, old clothes,etc.) Racetrack betters spent $2M on a race, while a war bond booth took in only $200.
Such examples are the essence and interest of this book. Surely, Klingaman is the ultimate researcher. (I personally knew a woman born in Japan that was sent back there at the beginning of the war and remained throughout before returning to the US. She was certainly no spy.)

[John Purvis · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The Darkest Year: The American Home Front 1941-1942" eBook was published in 2019 and was written by Willaim K. Klingaman. Mr. Klingaman has published more than 10 books. 

I received an ARC of this novel through https://www.netgalley.com in return for a fair and honest review. I categorize this novel as ‘G. The book is the story of Americans on the home front in the year following the attack on Perl Harbor. While some of the military engagements are mentioned, the book focuses on what was going on at home.

How did we deal with shortages and rationing? How was the shift from a peacetime economy to full war material production handled? How did these early days of the war affect life in the US? 

I enjoyed the 11.5+ hours I spent reading this 371-page non-fiction account of life in 1942 America. While non-fiction, this book was easy to read. It brought out several things I had not been aware of. So many mistakes were made by the military and the administration. I like the selected cover art. I give this novel a 4 out of 55

Further book reviews I have written can be accessed at https://johnpurvis.wordpress.com/blog/. 

[Barb · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was interested to read “The Darkest Year” by William K. Klingaman in order to understand exactly what the American people endured and suffered during WWII. Although this book provided a psychological study of the citizens of a nation of war, I found it very difficult to follow. Also, my perception of what life might have been like during that time was totally destroyed. I was under the impression that the citizens of the United States did everything possible to support their governments during this time. I was mistaken. The human conditions of greed, selfishness, and self-preservation to the detriment of others was prevalent in both countries. My fairy-tale theories of this “romantic”, at least to me, time in history were dashed. I did not finish this book because of that. It made my love of historical WWII fiction seem childish and unreal.

I downloaded a Kindle copy of this book from NetGalley.com in return for my honest review.

You can find this review on my blog at https://wp.me/p2pjIt-x7, and other reviews on my blog at http://imhookedonbooks.wordpress.com.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

People who think that Americans were united behind the war effort during World War 2 will be set straight by this fascinating, eye-opening look at the American home front during the first year of the war. Focusing on the year from Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941, to December 7, 1942, the author examines all aspects of American life and how they were impacted by the war, with a particular emphasis on areas where the populace disagreed with, or went even further, such as rationing and hoarding.

However, the best parts of this highly readable, and always compelling book, focused on the little things a reader might not think of. How weather forecasts were vague, so as not to give information away to the enemy. Even sports announcers could not say that a ballgame had been rained out.

This riveting, outstanding, well-written book will hold a top place on my list of favorite books of 2019. It's one I'd highly recommend to those who love to read about American history.

Note that I received a copy of this book from the publisher, via Net Galley, in exchange for a fair and honest review.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

The years when American fought World War II have usually been portrayed as a time when the whole country was unified with the one goal of winning the war. People sacrificed cheerfully and patriotically. Klingaman gives quite a different picture. The year from December 7, 1941 to December 7, 1942 were a confusion of conflicting messages, resistance to the draft, resistance to consumer cutbacks in goods such as rubber tires, gasoline, sugar and coffee. The expanding defense industries had labor disputes and strikes, racial prejudice, and sociological upsets that resulted in increases in prostitution (and unwed pregnancies), venereal diseases, juvenile delinquency and child labor. Congress couldn't get its act together, and the more rational voices were drowned out by the racist demands to imprison ethnic Japanese. The author mainly used popular journals and newspapers from around the country and gives a good picture of American citizens in ordinary circumstances and walks of life.

[Michael Ritchie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent popular history of the American home front during the first 12 months of WWII. I'm something of WWII buff, especially about the home front, but I learned all kinds of things here: there were riots in California just after December 7th because some businesses weren't fast enough to start blackout procedures; hundreds of ships were sunk along the East coast by German U-boats; the government put the people in an untenable position in terms of rationing of tires and gas (how were people supposed to get to work?); and that even by December of 1942, the country wasn't quite, despite what was seen in movies and heard on the radio, fully behind the war effort, at least in terms of home front sacrifices. I wish the author had done more with popular culture (almost nothing on specific movies, and no mention at all of "White Christmas" which was a hit in the fall of 1942), and the book ends--necessarily, I guess--on a downbeat note. But this is a well-researched, clearly told story of the home front. Now I hope he'll write one for each of war years.

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Americans are used to thinking of World War II as the "good war" full of unity and commitment to prosecute the war on the home front to its fullest extent.

This book shows how fraught the US war effort on the home front was in its first year. Doubts about victory, censorship that obscured the truth while raising doubt, the chaotic implementation of rationing on key goods and Americans' desires to evade those rules, I'll get a detailed and exhaustive covering.

Klingaman also shows the disjointed and uncoordinated expansion of the wartime economy, how the government agencies set up to manage it proved wanting in their charge, and the impact this had on Americans who found themselves working in wartime industries. In particular, the author shows the impact on labor relations and the social history of the wartime labor force particularly in regards to women who are transitioning from domestic work to regular full-time work.

Overall, a very enlightening and much needed understanding of the home front.

[Susan Scribner · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Very interesting re-examination of the "Greatest Generation" during the first year of WWII. Despite the stories we Baby Boomers have heard about how self-sacrificing everyone was, it's both reassuring and discouraging to see how citizens hoarded food that was about to rationed, politicians used the war for partisan bickering, corporations encouraged people to buy products as their patriotic duty, the government covered up how poorly the war was going - in other words, exactly what we see in the 21st century. Roosevelt doesn't come off too well; his great idea was to have a contest for the American public to "name" the war. In fact, almost no one comes off well.

Perhaps a bit too long and repetitive in parts, and a strange lack of material about the war against Germany in favor of an almost total focus on the Japanese Pacific front. But overall very enlightening. I wouldn't mind reading another book about the war from this author's viewpoint.

[David Corleto-Bales]

An easily read anecdotal history of the United States home front from just before Dec. 7th, 1941 until December 7th, 1942. Most of this history has been routinely left out of history books and have been glossed over in the popular imagination. The U.S. was extremely unprepared for war even after the draft had gone in during 1940, and the resulting chaos and uncertainty of the era is almost never discussed. There was inefficiency, chaos in the government, partisan squabbling, race riots, terrible overcrowding, VD epidemics, labor problems, racism, internment of Japanese-Americans, loafing, cheating on rations of sugar, coffee, gasoline, rubber and other products, (and price gouging and hoarding). World War II may have been "America's finest hour" but it was, as many suspect, not very fine. This book dwells mostly on the problems, but maybe it needs to. The "good war" wasn't very good, although the alternatives were much worse.

[Mike Stewart · Rating 4 out of 5]

Klingaman set out to depict what Americans actually thought and felt in our first year in the war. to do so, he largely relies upon contemporary sources and spares himself the luxury of hindsight. What emerges in his highly entertaining and interesting narrative is an America very different than the way we have traditionally viewed the home front - confusion, administrative chaos, conflicting priorities and policies, news censorship, and at times out right panic. Far from pulling together, there was hoarding and people being what they are, selfish pursuit of their own interests even to the detriment of the war effort. Although there was certainly determination and an earnest desire for revenge, the mood varied from time to time - malaise, discouragement, distrust were also present. An illuminating account, a window into another time.

[Gregg Narber · Rating 3 out of 5]

For a retired history professor, I haven't read a lot of history lately. Because of my intense interest in the unknown country my parents lived in (growing up in the Great Depression, living through and in Dad's case fighting in World War II), gravitating to this book was a natural. The book is written in the popular history style of Only Yesterday and Since Yesterday, if not up to the standard set by those books, and so is very readable. The degree to which the United States was unprepared for the war (and the almost dumb luck the US had in catching up in production and manpower, and even in taking the almost existential threat it faced seriously before disaster happened) is dramatically demonstrated. This is "history light" but an enjoyable read.

[Alan Carlson · Rating 4 out of 5]

An anecdotal history of, as it says, the US home front in the first year after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The book is little short on both context and analysis, and the casual reader is left trusting that the author was seeking to tell not only a compelling story, which he does, but an accurate one.

Having read the Kindle edition, I didn't really look at the cover - until just now. Why - oh why - does it show a BRITISH bomber-- and one that didn't even enter service until later in 1942? I see that this was fixed for the paperback cover, which shows a thoroughly iconic American bomber. the B-17 Flying Fortress, and not the Lancaster (which unlike some British airplanes, was NEVER used by the US).

[Ron Seckinger · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book covers varied subjects ding the first 13 months of US involvement in the Second World War, focusing on citizen morale and compliance with the government's restrictions on consumption. The principal lesson for this reviewer is the extent of resistance by citizens and businesses. For example, at one point the government declared a nation-wide 35 miles per hour speed limit--aimed at saving tire rubber for war vehicles--and virtually no one obeyed. The Army and Navy refused to provide accurate information about battles and casualties, many civilians participated in the black market, and the public's non-compliance with black-out regulations left shipping vulnerable to U-boat attacks along the East Coast. Myths about the unity and self-sacrifice of Americans during this existential threat to the country are somewhat overdrawn, when it comes to the home front.

[Deshay · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating book that may change your perception of America's entry into WWII. The country was much more divided and slow to get with the program. Lots of hoarders and cheaters. On all levels. So many things were changing across the country and the war still did not feel real - even after Pearl Harbor. I had always thought everyone was 100% supportive once we were in the war. But definitely not so.

[Patrick Macke · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a pretty rough slog ... Since the book is essentially a loose collection of soundbites kinda sorted by topic it lacks the compelling storytelling that would have happened if we would have experienced these events and this year through the eyes of individual Americans ... it's mostly quotes from government officials, bureaucrats and newspapers, the result is dry and redundant with an occasional "ah-ha" moment ... in this telling at least, the home front can't hold a candle to the war itself

[Len Boselovic · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thoroughly researched look at the homefront in 1942 that makes you wonder how we won the war given the lack of support for rationing and the clumsy efforts to get war production to where it needed to be. Brings to life the very real problems of allocating manpower, food and war material that are an overlooked story of the war. Would have liked a conclusion that explained how those obstacles were overcome, but props to Klingaman for tackling the topic.

[Francis X DuFour · Rating 5 out of 5]

I never realized how overwhelmed America was by WWII! Fascinating narrative of the efforts to prepare for war after Pearl Harbor. The partisan political battles and selfishness of our citizens sounds all to familiar in current times. Apparently many Americans were not part of “the greatest generation.”

[Robin]

This book is very detailed and insightful. I heard some stories from relatives about WWII but none quite so vivid as the conditions and attitudes of many on the home front. It is amazing we won the war given the initial reaction to it. This book offers a very different view of the war's beginnings for the citizenry.