The Darkest Year

3.5 stars. Very interesting re-examination of the “Greatest Generation” during the first year of WWII. Despite the stories we Baby Boomers have heard about how self-sacrificing everyone was, it's both reassuring and discouraging to see how citizens hoarded food that was about to rationed, politicians used the war for partisan bickering, corporations encouraged people to buy products as their patriotic duty, the government covered up how poorly the war was going - in other words, exactly what we see in the 21st century. Roosevelt doesn't come off too well; his great idea was to have a contest for the American public to “name” the war. In fact, almost no one comes off well.

Perhaps a bit too long and repetitive in parts, and a strange lack of material about the war against Germany in favor of an almost total focus on the Japanese Pacific front. But overall very enlightening. I wouldn't mind reading another book about the war from this author's viewpoint.