As a teenager growing up on a farm near Healdsburg, California, MargeÕs head was filled with thoughts of proms, pranks and other school activities when the U.S. abruptly entered World War II. It was a time of great curiosity in equal measure with fear and a longing for things to return to normal. Her generation was forced to grow up fast, into a world that was never the same as it had been. Marge tells of the war years at San Jose State College, virtually an all-girls school, and her decision to join the Navy WAVES while still in college. She went off to boot camp at HunterÕs College in New York City and served on active duty at North Island Naval Air Base in San Diego, where she updated aeronautical charts for pilots and witnessed the amazing evolution from piston to jet-powered fighter aircraft. The book, sprinkled with correspondence between two WAVES, both working with airplanes, contains many original fighter plane photos taken by Marge and fellow WAVE, Jean Broadbent.
As a teenager growing up on a farm near Healdsburg, California, MargeÕs head was filled with thoughts of proms, pranks and other school activities when the U.S. abruptly entered World War II. It was a time of great curiosity in equal measure with fear and a longing for things to return to normal. Her generation was forced to grow up fast, into a world that was never the same as it had been. Marge tells of the war years at San Jose State College, virtually an all-girls school, and her decision to join the Navy WAVES while still in college. She went off to boot camp at HunterÕs College in New York City and served on active duty at North Island Naval Air Base in San Diego, where she updated aeronautical charts for pilots and witnessed the amazing evolution from piston to jet-powered fighter aircraft. The book, sprinkled with correspondence between two WAVES, both working with airplanes, contains many original fighter plane photos taken by Marge and fellow WAVE, Jean Broadbent.
This sweeping New York Times bestseller is “the most thorough and most captivating, most engrossing novel ever written about World War II” (Los Angeles Times). Epic in scope, Marge Piercy’s sweeping novel encompasses the wide range of people and places marked by the Second World War. Each of her ten narrators has a unique and compelling story that powerfully depicts his or her personality, desires, and fears. Special attention is given to the women of the war effort, like Bernice, who rebels against her domineering father to become a fighter pilot, and Naomi, a Parisian Jew sent to live with relatives in Detroit, whose twin sister, Jacqueline—still in France—joins the resistance against Nazi rule. The horrors of the concentration camps; the heroism of soldiers on the beaches of Okinawa, the skies above London, and the seas of the Mediterranean; the brilliance of code breakers; and the resilience of families waiting for the return of sons, brothers, and fathers are all conveyed through powerful, poignant prose that resonates beyond the page. Gone to Soldiers is a testament to the ordinary people, with their flaws and inner strife, who rose to defend liberty during the most extraordinary times.
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