To Hasten the Homecoming

the long version

World War II has been called the greatest cataclysm in the history of the world, with dimensions so vast that even decades after its conclusion its social, political, and economic consequences continue to influence our daily lives. Jordan Braverman's concise and insightful history of media participation in World War II demonstrates that as surely as American soldiers fought the war with guns, tanks, and planes, civilians on the home front fought the war through movies, theatre, advertising, radio, comic strips, music, posters, and literature. From the infamous attack on Pearl Harbor to the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Braverman's rich account of wartime media evokes images of an innocent nation uniting to defeat a common enemy. Yet, this narrative portrait of wartime American culture is a dual history: Braverman not only examines the media as a propaganda tool used by government agencies such as the Office of War Information (OWI) but also discusses how popular culture fostered patriotic sentiment and a cohesive national identity that reflected wartime sensibilities. To Hasten the Homecoming presents a unique portrait of America through the words and pictures that Americans used during the turbulent years of World War II when no one knew who would win or what the postwar world would bring.