Men of WW II: Fighting Men at Ease

by Evan Bachner

The long awaited follow up to the original At Ease presents 160 new, never before published photographs of WWII Navy men. These photos are not the combat photography we’re so accustomed to seeing; here are disarmingly winsome and playful pictures of sailors and soldiers at leisure, displaying an innocent affection for each other that is practically unthinkable today. This was a time when men had no reservations about showing their devotion to their comrades through physical contact, and the included photographs are truly snapshots of a lost era. This volume includes photos from the National Archives by Edward J. Steichen, Wayne Miller, Horace Bristol, Victor Jorgensen, Barrett Gallagher, and many others.

Genres: Photography, Nonfiction, History, LGBT, War

160 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2007

Reviews

[Kieran · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm so glad these pictures have been made available. They are presented beautifully and without frills.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

These are candid shots showing the friendships between fellow soldiers. The author specifically collected shots that emphasized their humanity. Writing letters, sunning themselves on the deck of a battleship or aircraft carrier, swimming in bomb craters, playing volleyball. There is no overt-queer aspect to this book, but I still add my lgbtq bookshelf per the strong bonds you can see in every picture between these guys.

Bachner has a couple other collections:
At Ease: Navy Men of World War II
Making WAVES: Navy Women of World War II

I recently found a Japanese WWII uniform book that caught me by surprise with all the depiction of humanity in the compositions:
Uniforms and Equipment of the Imperial Japanese Army in World War II
My review at: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... has some examples from that book. If only we could have shared scrapbooks of training camps between the axis/allies, we would have seen the humanity and simply scheduled some athletic competitions.

Could we do this with today's combatants? I would hope that social media emphasizing the humanity of all parties involved in conflicts could appeal to the hearts of the majority (non-extremists) to prevail over the very-few that seek war.

[Kym]

huba-huba!

[Mike Ward · Rating 4 out of 5]

http://0651frombrighton.blogspot.co.u...

[H · Rating 4 out of 5]

These photographs are a national treasure.