Taking leave, taking liberties : American troops on the World War II home front / Aaron Hiltner.
Material type:
TextPublisher: Chicago : The University of Chicago Press, 2020Copyright date: ©2020Description: 285 pages ; illustrations ; 24 cmContent type: - text
- still image
- unmediated
- volume
- 9780226687049
- 022668704X
| Item type | Home library | Collection | Call number | Materials specified | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Adult Book
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Main Library | NonFiction | 940.5373 H656 | Available | 33111010432538 | ||||
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Adult Book
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Northport Library | NonFiction | 940.5373 H656 | Available | 33111009025855 |
Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
American soldiers overseas during World War II were famously said to be "overpaid, oversexed, and over here." But the assaults, rapes, and other brutal acts didn't only happen elsewhere, far away from a home front depicted as safe and unscathed by the "good war." To the contrary, millions of American and Allied troops regularly poured into ports like New York and Los Angeles while on leave. Euphemistically called "friendly invasions," these crowds of men then forced civilians to contend with the same kinds of crime and sexual assault unfolding in places like Britain, France, and Australia.
With unsettling clarity, Aaron Hiltner reveals what American troops really did on the home front. While GIs are imagined to have spent much of the war in Europe or the Pacific, before the run-up to D-Day in the spring of 1944 as many as 75% of soldiers were stationed in US port cities, including more than three million who moved through New York City. In these cities, largely uncontrolled soldiers sought and found alcohol and sex, and the civilians living there--women in particular--were not safe from the violence fomented by these de facto occupying armies. Troops brought their pocketbooks and demand for "dangerous fun" to both red-light districts and city centers, creating a new geography of vice that challenged local police, politicians, and civilians. Military authorities, focused above all else on the war effort, invoked written and unwritten legal codes to grant troops near immunity to civil policing and prosecution.
The dangerous reality of life on the home front was well known at the time--even if it has subsequently been buried beneath nostalgia for the "greatest generation." Drawing on previously unseen military archival records, Hiltner recovers a mostly forgotten chapter of World War II history, demonstrating that the war's ill effects were felt all over--including by those supposedly safe back home.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
What Happened on the Home Front -- Making the Military Man -- Taking Liberty -- Women Face the Uniform -- The Militarized City -- Epilogue: Postwar Invasions and Occupations
"During World War II, far more soldiers stayed in the United States than went overseas. This was a disaster for the port cities that hosted them and the civilians who lived there. Whether stationed there or on leave, soldiers and sailors ran amok, terrorizing and assaulting women in particular. These soldiers answered largely only to military authorities, who often looked the other way. Their behavior changed these cities. Some red-light districts were targeted for urban renewal and razed. Others continued to cater, however hypocritically, to the demand for vice. Hiltner draws on novels, films, and movies to show that the military occupation of American cities was well known at the time-even though we have subsequently slathered it beneath nostalgia for the "greatest generation.""-- Provided by publisher.