We are closed for Victory Day Monday. There is no subject heading in the library catalog for this state holiday, but a broad range of topics connect to the story of World War II and it’s end, and the experience of those abroad and at home. Even on our coast people saw artillery, as shown in “Defenses of Narragansett Bay” by Walter K, Shroder. One in 10 Rhode Islanders served in the military, and the war effort required much sacrifice from everyone.
“What Did You Do During the War, Grandma?” is a 1989 collection by South Kingstown High School students, of stories of women who were soldiers or worked for wartime industries. It's the idea behind storycorps.org, where you can search for conversations between family. Another book in our collection is “Graniteville Went to War.” The book “World War II Letters,” ed. Bill Adler, lets us see the words of loved ones separated. The narratives of war correspondent W.C. Heinz in “When We Were One” make you feel almost like you’re there.
The brutality of the war in the Pacific Theater is described in “War Without Mercy” an award-wining book By MIT professor John Dower, who won the Pulitzer prize for another book, about post-war Japan, “Embracing Defeat,” which includes the story of U.S. occupation, rebuilding, and the cultural struggles of Americanizing and “Japanizing” that ended with Japan a close ally. In another theater, brutal defeat is described in “Italy’s Sorrow” by James Holland, and a story of the rebuilding of Europe is told in “The Long Road Home” by Ben Shephard. There’s much more.
The library can help to provide the record of voices past. Victory Day can remind us to look, and to speak with the living voices of history while they’re here.
Editor’s Note: Jon Anderson serves as the Marian J. Mohr Memorial Library Director. Watch for his column weekly in the Johnston Sun Rise.
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