While young men and women were overseas fighting the battles of World War II, those left behind in the states filled the home front with humor and longing, style and song. Home Front America is a nostalgic, visual look at the cultural ephemera of that era, with all of its brash propaganda and sweet sentimentality. Authors Robert Heide and John Gilman have collected an astounding array of items which vividly recall American life during those chaotic times. Through a substantial, entertaining text and colorful photographs of pinback buttons, war posters, fashions, household products, ads, and much more, these two war-baby authors have evoked a time of excitement, strength, sacrifice, and hope. The book also explores a multitude of home front activities, from U.S.O. canteens to war bond rallies, home front decor to housewives' wartime menus, Victory Gardens to rationing, and radio programming to Hollywood films.

Includes primary sources on defense workers, women during the war, conscientious objectors, scrap metal collection and recycling, racial issues on the homefront, and civil defense.

Tells of the Amerian efforts to provide equipment for World War II and tells of the situation in America at the time.

"The American Home Front is a comparative analysis of the economic, political, and social results of America's four principal wars, this study reveals the major issues faced by each wartime administration and sketches the consequences of the mobilization policies adopted. Each conflict occurred in unique circumstances, required varied policies, and produced different effects on American institutions."--Amazon.com.

Without trial and without due process, the United States government locked up nearly all of those citizens and longtime residents who were of Japanese descent during World War II. Ten concentration camps were set up across the country to confine over 120,000 inmates. Almost 20,000 of them were shipped to the only two camps in the segregated South—Jerome and Rohwer in Arkansas—locations that put them right in the heart of a much older, long-festering system of racist oppression. The first history of these Arkansas camps, Concentration Camps on the Home Front is an eye-opening account of the inmates’ experiences and a searing examination of American imperialism and racist hysteria. While the basic facts of Japanese-American incarceration are well known, John Howard’s extensive research gives voice to those whose stories have been forgotten or ignored. He highlights the roles of women, first-generation immigrants, and those who forcefully resisted their incarceration by speaking out against dangerous working conditions and white racism. In addition to this overlooked history of dissent, Howard also exposes the government’s aggressive campaign to Americanize the inmates and even convert them to Christianity. After the war ended, this movement culminated in the dispersal of the prisoners across the nation in a calculated effort to break up ethnic enclaves. Howard’s re-creation of life in the camps is powerful, provocative, and disturbing. Concentration Camps on the Home Front rewrites a notorious chapter in American history—a shameful story that nonetheless speaks to the strength of human resilience in the face of even the most grievous injustices.

Describes life in the United States during World War II, discussing such activities as civil defense, the Japanese relocation, rationing, propaganda, and censorship.