Syndetics cover image
Image from Syndetics

V is for victory : Franklin Roosevelt's American Revolution and the triumph of World War II / Craig Nelson.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: New York : Scribner, 2023Copyright date: ©2023Edition: First Scribner hardcover editionDescription: x, 437 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9781982122911
  • 1982122919
Subject(s): Genre/Form:
Contents:
Prelude -- Part I Foundation. Like the first chapter of Genesis -- The world at your feet -- Part II The road to Pearl Harbor. When the light falls -- The Amazon and apple of their eyes -- How to make America first -- Let sleeping dogs lie through their teeth -- Part III From sacrifice to victory. The gun in her purse -- Infamy, and aftermath -- The first victories -- Have you considered a career in supply-chain management? -- Into the lands of the Normen -- Coda.
Summary: "New York Times bestselling historian Craig Nelson reveals how FDR confronted an American public disinterested in going to war in Europe, skillfully won their support, and pushed government and American industry to build the greatest war machine in history, "the arsenal of democracy" that won World War II. As Nazi Germany began to conquer Europe, America's military was unprepared, too small, and poorly supplied. The Nazis were supported by robust German factories that created a seemingly endless flow of arms, trucks, tanks, airplanes, and submarines. The United States, emerging from the Great Depression, was skeptical of American involvement in Europe and not ready to wage war. Hardened isolationists predicted disaster if the country went to war. In this fascinating and deeply researched account, Craig Nelson traces how Franklin D. Roosevelt steadily and sometimes secretively put America on a war footing by convincing America's top industrialists such as Henry Ford Jr. to retool their factories, by diverting the country's supplies of raw materials to the war effort, and above all by convincing the American people to endure shortages, to work in wartime factories, and to send their sons into harm's way. Within a few years, the nation's workers were producing thousands of airplanes and tanks, hundreds of warships and submarines. Under FDR's resolute leadership, victory at land and sea and air across the globe began at home in America--a powerful and essential narrative largely overlooked in conventional histories of the war but which, in Nelson's skilled, authoritative hands, becomes an illuminating and important work destined to become an American history classic"-- Provided by publisher.
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction 973.917 N425 Available 33111011281652
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

A NEW YORKER BEST BOOK OF 2023

"Belongs in the library alongside the histories and biographies of Martin Gilbert, Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., and David McCullough." --Doug Stanton, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Horse Soldiers

In this epic and definitive history of the American home front during World War II, New York Times bestselling historian Craig Nelson reveals how FDR won the support of a nation antagonistic to war in Europe and pushed both government and industry to build "the arsenal of democracy"--the secret weapon that won the war.

In 1938, the United States was so politically isolationist and pacifist that its defense forces were smaller than Portugal's. That same year, Franklin Delano Roosevelt ordered the federal government to spark a dramatic expansion in domestic airplane production, and this minor effort--three years before the attack on Pearl Harbor--would in time become what Roosevelt called "the arsenal of democracy," the full-throttle unleashing of American enterprise and ingenuity that was the secret weapon for victory in World War II. Signaled by Roosevelt's public fight with Lindbergh--known as the Great Debate--victory at land, sea, and air across the globe began at home.

In this "richly detailed, highly readable account of presidential leadership in perilous times" ( New York Journal of Books ), Craig Nelson traces how under FDR, the United States rose from poverty and solitude to defeat the greatest evils of the 20th century. By transforming what Americans thought they could achieve, FDR's efforts ended the Great Depression; conquered the fascists of Germany, Italy, and Japan; birthed America's middle-class affluence and consumer society; led to jet engines, computers, radar, the military-industrial complex, Big Science, and nuclear weapons; triggered a global economic boom; and turned the U.S. military into a worldwide titan--with America the undisputed leader of world affairs. While the arsenal of democracy has come to mean this miracle of American industry, when Roosevelt said it, he meant the miracle of the American people.

Revealing an era when Detroit was Silicon Valley; Ford was Apple; and Sears, Roebuck was Amazon, while filled with reflections on our own time, V Is for Victory draws on five years of research to create a powerful and essential narrative largely overlooked in conventional histories of the war but which, in Nelson's skilled, authoritative hands, becomes an illuminating and important work destined to become an American history classic.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 399-414) and index.

Prelude -- Part I Foundation. Like the first chapter of Genesis -- The world at your feet -- Part II The road to Pearl Harbor. When the light falls -- The Amazon and apple of their eyes -- How to make America first -- Let sleeping dogs lie through their teeth -- Part III From sacrifice to victory. The gun in her purse -- Infamy, and aftermath -- The first victories -- Have you considered a career in supply-chain management? -- Into the lands of the Normen -- Coda.

"New York Times bestselling historian Craig Nelson reveals how FDR confronted an American public disinterested in going to war in Europe, skillfully won their support, and pushed government and American industry to build the greatest war machine in history, "the arsenal of democracy" that won World War II. As Nazi Germany began to conquer Europe, America's military was unprepared, too small, and poorly supplied. The Nazis were supported by robust German factories that created a seemingly endless flow of arms, trucks, tanks, airplanes, and submarines. The United States, emerging from the Great Depression, was skeptical of American involvement in Europe and not ready to wage war. Hardened isolationists predicted disaster if the country went to war. In this fascinating and deeply researched account, Craig Nelson traces how Franklin D. Roosevelt steadily and sometimes secretively put America on a war footing by convincing America's top industrialists such as Henry Ford Jr. to retool their factories, by diverting the country's supplies of raw materials to the war effort, and above all by convincing the American people to endure shortages, to work in wartime factories, and to send their sons into harm's way. Within a few years, the nation's workers were producing thousands of airplanes and tanks, hundreds of warships and submarines. Under FDR's resolute leadership, victory at land and sea and air across the globe began at home in America--a powerful and essential narrative largely overlooked in conventional histories of the war but which, in Nelson's skilled, authoritative hands, becomes an illuminating and important work destined to become an American history classic"-- Provided by publisher.

Powered by Koha