If anyone reading this has an earlier copy they made for their own reference, please send us a copy at bastetka@gte.net!!! Ours was lost in conversions, and we are trying to rebuild it!
The many older books can be located in second-hand book stores, reference libraries via ILL (Inter-Library Loan), or by book finders, like that at Barnes and Noble. Of course, you know to read magazines and newspapers of the time to pick up the period flavour and concerns. For costume, avoid most books: they often lump "the Forties" together, though there were two fashion periods, the shoulder pads, high hem, late-Thirties-like fashions of the first half, and the purposely revolutionary, corsetted, narrow-shouldered, long, full-skirted New Look from Dior after the War. Best to read back issues of the fashion magazines of the period.
Alexander, Edwin P.
American Locomotives: A Pictorial Record of Steam Power, 1900-1950 **** Bonanza Books, NY, 1950 Clear terse text with photos and line drawings, to let you know what's up front on the trains in the first part of the century. You can't just fake your way through a steam train accident or sabotage based on diesel. T3
American Red Cross
First Aid Textbook **** The Blakiston Company, Philedelphia, 1933, rev. 1940; 256 pg, index How times (and practices!) have changed! Features traction of broken limbs, abhorred today, but more practical in a world where it might be a day's travel to a doctor, or even a phone. T3
Angelucci, Enzo, & Paolo Maricardi
World Aircraft: Commercial 1935-1960 * Rand McNally & Co, Chicago, NY & SF, 1979; 317-320 pg per vol., index
Beebe, Lucius M.
Mr. Pullman's Elegant Palace Car *** Doubleday & Co., Garden City, NY, 1961 A wonderful collection of photos, scaled layouts of cars, and reproduction of artwork, with pithy text somewhat allergic to dates. Just dig in: information ranges from the Civil War through the 1950's. T2 Mansions on Rails, The Folklore of the Private Railway Car *** Similar, detailing the PV, or Private Varnish, with an emphasis on early elegance. T2
Mr. Pullman's Elegant Palace Car *** Doubleday & Co., Garden City, NY, 1961 A wonderful collection of photos, scaled layouts of cars, and reproduction of artwork, with pithy text somewhat allergic to dates. Just dig in: information ranges from the Civil War through the 1950's. T2
Mansions on Rails, The Folklore of the Private Railway Car *** Similar, detailing the PV, or Private Varnish, with an emphasis on early elegance. T2
Casdorph, Paul D.
Let the Good Times Roll: Life at Home in America During World War II *****! Paragon House, NY, 1989; index, no bibliography Strictly chronological order. Does a good job of covering the not-good times (silly title), including both gains and losses in integration and civil rights, the affects of war on people's minds at home, and all the intricacies of the government agencies and controls. Very few illos, mostly of famous people T2
Chapman, Charles Frederic
Piloting, Seamanship, and Small Boat Handling **** Motor Boating, NY, 1922, rev. periodically; 688 pg, index Rules of the Road, weather signs, navigation, marlinspike seamanship, social etiquette, flags and signalling: just about everything! Gospel. Often known simply as "Chapman."
Costello, John
Virtue Under Fire: How WWII Changed Our Social and Sexual Attitudes *****! Fromm International Publishing Corp., 1985; 294 pg, index, bibliography Documentary of innumerable cases of interpersonal relationships, sexual harassment, and gallantry, in all sorts of mixes of male and female, military and civilian. Anyone who thinks it was all according to the Hayes Office movies, or all an extended dirty joke, is wrong on either count. Quite an eye-opener. T2
Fermi, Laura
Illustrious Immigrants: The Intellectual Migration from Europe, 1930-1941 University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 2nd ed. 1971 A precise but emminently readable story of the efforts of American academics to rescue their fellows from the Nazi regime, giving valuable background on what their lives had been like in Europe, and what they faced in the New World. The bulk is given over to following the continuing success of these figures (and the occasional failure) and the effect they had on American arts and sciences by being here. T3
Friedrich, Otto
City of Nets: A Portrait of Hollywood in the 1940's Harper and Row, NY, 1987; index and bibliography Dishes on all the scandal, crimes, and headlines, chronologically from 1939 to 1950. Great reading! T2
Hiscox, Gardner D., M.E., editor
Henley's Formulas for Home and Workshop **** New York; Crown Publishers; 1907, rev. 1927 (1980) All those rote formulas for Cosmetics, Perfumes, Beverages, and pyrotechnic parlor tricks, not to mention photographic chemicals, vetrinary treatments you should NOT use on a non-fictional beast, and how much "butter the size of an egg" should be.
Ingraham, Holly
People's Names: A Cross-cultural Reference Guide to the Proper Use of Over 40,000 Personal and Familial Names in Over 100 Cultures *****! McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, Jefferson, NC; 1997; 613 pgs, index, select annotated bibliography The Contemporary half not only has all the European names for American troops, but naming practices for the Pacific Islands, as well as all the countries of Asia. Family names as well as those for individuals. T1
Krammer, Arnold
Nazi Prisoners of War in America *****! Scarborough House, Lanham MD, 1979, rev. 1991; index and bibliography One of our friends who wrote a novel based on this had the interesting experience of a workshopper declaring that there were never any PW's in America, or at least only a handful. Find out how many hundreds of thousands there were, where they were kept, the internal politics of the camps, and their own Great Escape. T2
Lingeman, Richard R.
Don't You Know There's a War On? The American Home Front 1941-1945 **** G. P. Putnam's Sons, NY, 1970; index and selected bibliography A pretty good coverage of life, with occasional killer details like the color of particular ration stamps, or black market gasoline racketeering. But the section on fashion is completely lost, as it largely describes the post-war New Look. T1
Melton, H. Keith
OSS Special Weapons and Equipment; Spy Devices of WWII **** Sterling Publishing, 1991; 128 pg, index, glossary Dazzling! An actual catalog for OSS agents, annotated. What length fuses are available to your agent and what are the key colours? How small a radio can he or she have? Belt-guns, .22-calibre cigarettes, knock-down and pistol crossbows, how to knife a guard or blow up a ship, compasses in a button, gilhooleys, "Who Me?" in a tube -- just everything. T3
The Military Service Publishing Company
The Officer's Guide *****! Harrisburg, PN, 9th ed. 1943 If you want to present an Army officer and you haven't been one, or weren't in the right branch of service, this is great. It covers the National Guard as well, with organization of the Army, the command structure, what you wear, with whom you serve, your first station, your last will and testament, ad indinitum. Mercifully written before gobbledegook, in a clear and simple format, which is neither flowery nor dull. T3
National Geographic, the editors of
The Complete National Geographic; 103 Years of National Geographic Magazine on CD-ROM **** National Geographic Society, Washington, DC, 1991 Not only are there interesting articles on the war, especially on the peoples of the Pacific Theatre, but this gives you a glimpse of how science went on despite the war in places like South America. Complete with all the ads. T1
1928 Handy Railroad Atlas of the United States *****
Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Kalmbach Publishing, nd The original Rand McNally copyright on the index page is 1923; the metropolitan maps are from 1937. For most of this century, Characters are more likely to make long trips by train than by auto or plane, and this is the era of the luxury train: The Twentieth Century, The Broadway Limited, the Sunset Limited, etc. A must-have. Look or ask for it at railroad hobby shops.
Nock, O .S., editor
Encyclopedia of Railroads **** Galahad Books, NY, 1977; 480 pg, index History of railroads and equipment over the entire world, including Africa, Asia, and south America. Sections on equipment and operation, also the great luxury trains, past and present. Gorgeous colour layout, oversize. One lap-breaker worth the effort of lifting.
"Old Sarge"
How to Get Along in the Army *****! D. Appleton-Century Company, Inc., NY & London, 1942 An NCO's guide, not on "how to soldier," but all the hints and kinks of staying healthy, blister-free, out of trouble, and in your barracks-mates' good graces. The anecdotes provide many incidents for the character in basic training. T2
Post, Emily
Etiquette ***** New York; Funk & Wagnalls, 1922, 1927 (42 chapters), 1931 (1 chapter) and 1934 (no notable changes) For those in the high life, or trying to emulate it. Incredibly picky about vocabulary, etc., but that is how one tells the Ins from the Outs. Valuable chapters on wardrobe and dress, entertainments acceptable to Society, country visits, and child-rearing (besides what the nanny does). Look in newspapers of the time for Post's column which will tell you how to handle rationing etiquette, hitchhiking servicemen, etc. T2
Shea, Nancy
The Army Wife Harper and Brothers, NY, 1941 revised edition Put together to meet the needs of women who suddenly found their husands in the army, on the bones of a book for girls marrying cadets or other men already in, Shea tells what to expect in almost any situation. T2
Singer, Kurt
Spies and Traitors of World War II *****! Prentice Hall, NY, 1945 The story of Adm. Canaris, the German spy-master, and various agents around the world, on both sides. Explains why Argentina was a refuge for Nazis (Peron was a fascist), and has a wonderful last chapter on the stated post-war aims of the Nazi underground. He does vastly underestimate Hitler's wrath with Canaris, which eventually led to his execution, as the author does not know.
Time Life Books, the editors of
This Fabulous Century: Sixty Years of American Life, volume 5. 1940-1950 * Time-Life Books, NY, 1969 Fashions, fads, infamies, in crisp original photographs, and reproductions of ads and newspapers of the times. However the text has consistently turned up glaring errors of fact and date. Good for pictures, but bad for information, though this volume is the least flawed of the set.
editors of the New York *World*
The World Almanac and Book of Facts *****! published annually by the New York World Since 1886, this is an instant window on any year, due to its detailed General Chronology of the previous year, which in the 1944 edition runs from 1 December 1942 to 30 November 1943. But the tide charts and moon cycles and holidays are for the cover year, 1944. During WW2, they also ran a special section on the military aspects of the war, in all theatres, so you can find out on which days who bombed where. Your library should have this on microfilm. If not, buy your own copy from Ann Arbor; it's worth it. T3
Ventry, Arthur F. D. E., Baron, and Koesnik, Eugene M.
Airship Saga: the history of airships, etc. **** New York; Blandford Press, 1982. A fine exploration of the development of commercial and naval dirigibles, which were only ever successfully done by the Germans, with their implied end through anti-Nazism and the necessity of other countries building large airplanes instead. Points out how most accidents were the result of improper use and lack of maintenance, and how very few people were hurt in the Hindenburg "disaster."
Von Braun, Wernher, and Ordway, Frederick I., III
History of Rocketry and Space Travel *** New York; Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1966. Excellent for the early history of rocketry, which with your Characters may be involved.
Wall, Robert
Airliners **** Seacaucus, NJ; Chartwell Books, 1980. From the earliest to the Concord, and into speculation, this big picture-heavy book gives a thorough and unusual coverage, including a fine chapter on the lighter-than-air airliners like Graf Zeppelin. Lots of period cutaways showing interior layouts, and interior shots, many with passengers in real-life clothes. Also airports, menues, stamps, "the front office", and travel posters.
WPA
The WPA Guide to Massachusetts: The Federal Writers' Project Guide to 1930s Massachusetts Pantheon Books, NY, reprinted 1983 Will do for a guide into this period. Describes towns, histories, points of interest. A few maps, descriptions of travel routes, and too few period pictures, alas. Find out how much hasn't been built yet! T3 also in this series: The WPA Guide to Illinois The WPA Guide to New Orleans The WPA Guide to New York The WPA Guide to Washington, DC
The WPA Guide to Massachusetts: The Federal Writers' Project Guide to 1930s Massachusetts Pantheon Books, NY, reprinted 1983 Will do for a guide into this period. Describes towns, histories, points of interest. A few maps, descriptions of travel routes, and too few period pictures, alas. Find out how much hasn't been built yet! T3
also in this series: The WPA Guide to Illinois The WPA Guide to New Orleans The WPA Guide to New York The WPA Guide to Washington, DC
There's some astonishing stuff out there, from aircraft training films to deathcamp footage "For Adults Only." This a sample of items to get you grounded.
The Way We Were: American Homefront *****!
Reader's Digest Video Video reconstruction using all those promotional filmlets of the time to reconstruct your neighborhood and its activities -- in a very positive light. T1
The "Why We Fight Series" *****!
Reader's Digest Video All seven of the Frank Capra films, originally made to be shown in boot camps. Superb. Sometimes sold separately. VII: "War Comes to America: The Front at Home" because this is what your characters have lived through, a retrospective of American reaction to all three Axis powers, leading up to the dastardly attack on Pearl Harbor. T1
http://www.ucr.edu/h-gig/topperindex.html
A thorough-going linksite maintained by the University of California at Riverside, H-GIG sorts by area, by era (ancient, Medieval, early Modern, Modern, and 20th C<yours>), or by topic (military, women, etc.). It's a good place to start a hunt for books and essays online.