Abstract
During the various fiftieth anniversary celebrations of the second world war, culminating in D-Day, VE and VJ Day commemorations, many Americans, with participants from other nations, remembered countrymen who died in the years following Pearl Harbor. Others also looked back nostalgically to the second world war which, according to some observers, was 'the Good War', America's 'finest hour', and 'the most popular war in American history'. The historical profession, having for long ignored the war altogether, is writing increasingly of it as a glorious and, in modern parlance, defining moment in modern American history, shaping a 'postwar era' which lasted up until the 1970s.' In this article I want to attempt some assessment of the war's impact on American society and try to locate it in relation to the pre-war and postwar periods. An increasing volume of scholarship has contributed to a subtle but persistent shift in emphasis in the writing of modern American history. Where once contemporary United States history was seen to begin in the New Deal era with the creation of the modern presidency, the formation of new political alliances, the rise of organized labour, and development of a welfare system, increasingly it is the second world war which is used to mark the emergence of modern America. While the limitations of the New Deal's achievements have been endlessly debated by revisionist historians, the war years are seen in a comparatively more positive light. According to Geoffrey Perrett, the war
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.