{"product_id":"a-nation-forged-in-war-how-world-war-ii-taught-americans-to-get-along-legacies-of-war-9781621900597","title":"A Nation Forged in War: How World War II Taught Americans to Get Along (Legacies of War)","description":"\u003cp\u003eWorld War II shaped the United States in profound ways  and this new bookthe first in the Legacies of War seriesexplores one of the most significant changes it fostered: a dramatic increase in ethnic and religious tolerance. A Nation Forged in War is the first full-length study of how large-scale mobilization during the Second World War helped to dissolve longstanding differences among White soldiers of widely divergent backgrounds.  Never before or since have so many Americans served in the armed forces at one time: more than 15 million donned uniforms in the period from 1941 to 1945. Thomas Bruscino explores how these soldiers shared experiencesenduring basic training  living far from home  engaging in combattransformed their views of other ethnic groups and religious traditions. He further examines how specific military policies and practices worked to counteract old prejudices  and he makes a persuasive case that throwing together men of different regions  ethnicities  religions  and classes not only fostered a greater sense of tolerance but also forged a new American identity. When soldiers returned home after the war with these new attitudes  they helped reorder what it meant to be white in America.  Using the presidential campaigns of Al Smith in 1928 and John F. Kennedy in 1960 as bookend events  Bruscino notes a key change in religious bias. Smiths defeat came at the end of a campaign rife with anti-Catholic sentiment; Kennedys victory some three decades later proved that such religious bigotry was no longer an insurmountable obstacle. Despite such advances  Bruscino notes that the growing broad-mindedness produced by the war had limits: it did not extend to African Americans  whose own struggle for equality would dramatically mark the postwar decades.  Extensively documented  A Nation Forged in War is one of the few books on the social and cultural impact of the World War II years. Scholars and students of military  ethnic  social  and religious history will be fascinated by this groundbreaking new volume.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45646717583413,"sku":"ByrdShop_1621900592","price":25.05,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9781621900597.jpg?v=1781677622","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/a-nation-forged-in-war-how-world-war-ii-taught-americans-to-get-along-legacies-of-war-9781621900597","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}