In the last half of 1945, news of the war’s end and aftermath shared space with reports of a battle on the home front, led by a woman. She was Elizabeth O. Hayes, MD, doctor for a coal company that owned the town of Force, PA, where sewage contaminated the drinking waters, and ambulances sank into muddy unpaved roads while corrupt managers, ensconced in Manhattan high-rises, refused to make improvements. When Hayes resigned to protest intolerable living conditions, 350 miners followed her in strike, shaking the foundation of the town and attracting a national media storm. Press – including women reporters, temporarily assigned to national news desks in wartime – flocked to the small mining town to champion Dr. Hayes’ cause. Slim, blonde, and 33, “Dr. Betty” became the heroine of an environmental drama that captured the nation’s attention, complete with mustache-twirling villains, surprises, setbacks, and a mostly happy ending. News outlets ranging from Business Week to the Daily Worker applauded her guts. Woody Guthrie wrote a song about her. Soldiers followed her progress in the military newspaper Stars and Stripes, flooding her with fan mail. A Philadelphia newspaper recommended Dr. Betty’s prescription to others: “Rx: Get Good and Angry.” President Harry S. Truman referred her grievances to his justice department, which handed her a victory. A Mighty Force is the only book, popular or academic, written about Hayes. Readers interested in feminism, the environment, corporate accountability, and the World War II home front will be excited to discover this engaging, untold episode in women’s history. Fortunately, a fascinated press captured Hayes’s words and deeds in scores of news pieces. Author Marcia Biederman uses these pieces, written by major news outlets and tiny local papers, as well as interviews with descendants, letters written by Hayes’s opponents, union files, court records, an observer’s scrapbook, mining company data, and a journalist’s oral history to tell the story of Dr. Betty and her pursuit of public health for the first time.

From 1954 to 1966, Lincoln, Nebraska, was home to one of America's most important bomber bases of the Cold War. Its B-47 Stratojet bombers, KC-97 air-refueling tankers and later Atlas-F Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles provided the United States with a nuclear deterrent the likes of which the world had not yet seen. Only a small fraction of the greater Strategic Air Command, the airmen of Lincoln stood vigil during the darker days of the Cold War, including the Cuban Missile Crisis. Beyond the flight line and missile silos, the story of Lincoln Air Force Base is that of the individual airman. A Mighty Force for Peace delves into the stories of the young men that came to Nebraska to repair jet engines, to provide security for a nuclear base, to serve meals, to manage fuels, to be a part of a defense community few in Lincoln remember today.In the shadow of the mushroom cloud, Lincoln Air Force Base prepared for the unthinkable. Aircraft and missiles based there carried unimaginably destructive weapons for the sake of deterrence, weapons whose purpose was never to be used. In the twenty-first century, we look back at those weapons, the strategies, and the individuals that built the fascinating and enduring legacy of Lincoln Air Force Base.

“Relates how the American Eighth Air Force bombers helped Britain's Royal Air Force in fighting Germany during World War II.”—ProtoView From the beginning of World War II, the RAF’s Bomber Command had been the only means of striking Hitler’s Reich and its war machine. But the entry into the war of the United States—and the subsequent arrival in the UK of the Eighth Air Force—would more than double the Allied capability. The Flying Fortress and Liberator heavy bombers were mostly flown across the Atlantic by their young, green aircrew, and many succumbed en route and never arrived. Flying in northern Europe was a different ball game from American skies and it took a considerable time before the crews familiarized themselves with the vagaries of fog, low cloud, rain and snow. The American bombers bristled with defensive armament and elected to fly in close defensive formation during the day, leaving the RAF to carry out nighttime raids. With the arrival of long-range protective escort fighters, the task became a little easier. This book is the story, including many firsthand accounts, of how the American bomber force helped fight to eventual victory, by decimating German industry and transport systems—and breaking the Nazi war spirit.

A must-have classic. Mostly taken by members of “Mighty” Eighth Air Force, this wonderful selection portrays the American aircraft and their crews deployed to Britain in 1942. The daring and danger of those days comes across in a uniquely personal perspective, in photos of bases, aircraft in action and on the ground, nose art, and airfields and countryside from high above. Nearly 600 photos, arranged alphabetically by home base. “A brilliant gallery of memories.”—Hobby Merchandiser.

For the first time, this volume explores the identities of leprosy sufferers and other people affected by the disease in medieval Europe. The chapters, including contributions by leading voices such as Luke Demaitre, Carole Rawcliffe and Charlotte Roberts, challenge the view that people with leprosy were uniformly excluded and stigmatised. Instead, they reveal the complexity of responses to this disease and the fine line between segregation and integration. Ranging across disciplines, from history to bioarchaeology, Leprosy and identity in the Middle Ages encompasses post-medieval perspectives as well as the attitudes and responses of contemporaries. Subjects include hospital care, diet, sanctity, miraculous healing, diagnosis, iconography and public health regulation. This richly illustrated collection presents previously unpublished archival and material sources from England to the Mediterranean.

The US 8th Air Force was based in the UK from 1942 onwards, spread exclusively across East Anglia and operating from over 40 locations. The remains of some of these sites can still be found and a few are still airfields. The 8th flew intensive bomber and fighter sorties over Europe. Over 2000 aircraft, mostly B-17s, B-26s and P-47s, involving 150,000 men and a vastly sophisticated supply chain, were engaged in a ceaseless war of high-altitude daylight precision bombing that did much to secure eventual Allied success.

Twenty-plus years in the writing, and for an additional ten years, this gut-wrenching, heartwarming story has been silently biding its time, awaiting a channel for expression. A compelling story of young boys bound by faith, courage, blood, sweat, and tears, and how that bonding created the brave young men they became. Hopefully, all who read this account will feel the deep emotions of terror, disappointment, frustration, laughter, love, peace, and joy experienced by the author during his service as a radioman/gunner on a B17G during World War II. Some of the stories contained in this manuscript have never been published or made public. Stationed in the European Theater of Operations in Framlingham, England, Mr. Richardson, USAAF, 8th AF, 390th Bomb Group (H), 571st Squadron, was the recipient of numerous major awards and citations, including Distinguished Flying Cross; Air Medal with 4 Oak-Leaf Clusters; 2 Presidential Unit Citations; Russian Medal of Victory in the Great Patriotic War (on behalf of Boris Yeltsin); Certificate in Recognition of Contribution/Service in liberating France and participation in the Invasion of Normandy, signed by French Secretary of Defense John-Pierre Messeret; French Jubilee of Liberty Medal; and French Legion of Honor Medal.