Edward J. Jeffries Jr., was elected mayor of Detroit in 1937 and for a decade led the city through a period of race riots, union turmoil, and unprecedented growth. Jeffries's circle of friends was made up primarily of newspaper reporters who shared his interests and lifestyle. Devoted to family, they nevertheless worked long hours, smoked heavily, drank moderately, and gambled often in their running card games of gin and poker. After Pearl Harbor, Jeffries watched his closest friends, most twelve to fourteen years his junior, enlist in the armed forces. Voracious letter writers, over the next four years they shared with one another their innermost hopes and fears. They told stories about Gen. George S. Patton, the surrender of Japan, of commanding African American soldiers during the Normandy invasion, and the battles on the home front in the heart of Detroit, the "Arsenal of Democracy." These letters present a candid portrait of the intellectual and political leadership of Detroit—and America. These men were confident in their values, aware of their responsibilities, and logical in their actions as they helped forge the weapons that turned back the fascist threat to democracy. Their letters also reveal a level and kind of male camaraderie seemingly lost in the depersonalized, technocratic society of the postwar era. As such, this work provides a more complete understanding of how Americans reacted to—and were changed by—the "Good War."

When President Roosevelt called for the country to be the great "Arsenal of Democracy," Detroit helped turn the tide against fascism with its industrial might. Locals were committed to the cause, putting careers and personal ambitions on hold. Factories were retooled from the ground up. Industrialist Henry Ford, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, aviator Charles Lindbergh, legendary boxer Joe Louis, future baseball Hall of Famer Hank Greenberg and the real-life Rosie the Riveters all helped drive the city that was "forging thunderbolts" for the front lines. With a panoramic narrative, author Gregory D. Sumner chronicles the wartime sacrifices, contributions and everyday life of the Motor City.

Just as Detroit symbolizes the U.S. automobile industry, during World War II it also came to stand for all American industry's conversion from civilian goods to war material. The label "Arsenal of Democracy" was coined by Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt in a fireside chat radio broadcast on December 29, 1940, nearly a year before the United States formally entered the war. Here is the pictorial story of one Detroiter's unique leadership in the miraculous speed Detroit's mass-production capacity was shifted to output of tanks, trucks, guns, and airplanes to support America's victory and of the struggles of civilians on the home front.

Chronicles Detroit's dramatic transition from an automobile manufacturing center to a highly efficient producer of World War II airplanes, citing the essential role of Edsel Ford's rebellion against his father, Henry Ford.

The third omnibus in the Pierre Berton's History for Young Canadians series. Pierre Berton, perhaps Canada's best known writer, recounts the compelling stories of the battles of the War of 1812 in this third omnibus in the Pierre Berton's History for Young Canadians series. These fast-paced narratives, written for pre-teen and teenage readers, recreate the battles that would shape Canada's future. Originally printed as separate volumes in the Adventures in Canadian History series, the titles in the third book in the series, Pierre Berton's History for Young Canadians, The Battles of the War of 1812, include: The Capture of Detroit, The Death of Isaac Brock, Revenge of the Tribes, Canada Under Siege, The Battle of Lake Erie, The Death of Tecumseh, and Attack on Montreal. Berton focuses on the most important battles of the War of 1812, relating the stories in accurate, lively detail. Facts and figures, historical characters, and battle strategies blend seamlessly into an exciting lesson in Canadian history.This is the story of the war that helped Canadians develop a sense of pride and community, setting the groundwork for a united Canadian nation. Focusing on major historical characters, Berton describes figures such as Tecumseh, Isaac Brock, Charles-Michel d'Irumberry de Salaberry, and Laura Secord. Less familiar characters, from minor officers to Loyalist informers, add depth and drama to the history.

Detroit's Cold War locates the roots of American conservatism in a city that was a nexus of labor and industry in postwar America. Drawing on meticulous archival research focusing on Detroit, Colleen Doody shows how conflict over business values and opposition to labor, anticommunism, racial animosity, and religion led to the development of a conservative ethos in the aftermath of World War II. Using Detroit--with its large population of African-American and Catholic immigrant workers, strong union presence, and starkly segregated urban landscape--as a case study, Doody articulates a nuanced understanding of anticommunism during the Red Scare. Looking beyond national politics, she focuses on key debates occurring at the local level among a wide variety of common citizens. In examining this city's social and political fabric, Doody illustrates that domestic anticommunism was a cohesive, multifaceted ideology that arose less from Soviet ideological incursion than from tensions within the American public.