When I was a young child, growing up during and after World War II, a visit to my grandmother’s house meant that I could read from her encyclopedic collection of hard-bound books (I wish I knew who published that set; it seemed like it was at least a dozen large volumes), with photos on almost every page and eye-witness textual accounts. Two of her sons, by the way, saw action in the Pacific “theater” during the war, so I remember seeing air mail that was written on the inner surfaces of the envelope, as well as those WWII ration books.
PBS, of course, has run some excellent pieces, like the War of the World series, and sometimes reruns the very old period-produced films (including one series — its title eludes me — during fundraising stints) that we have probably all seen one time or another.
Now I find that The Atlantic has done an amazing 20-part retrospective of some of the best photography from the war. And it is fascinating. At least to me. Visit The Atlantic’s In-Focus site to see this amazing collection.
