The Good War - Stories About the Past? Or the Future?

Is world peace attainable? Is conflict between any two parties eventually unavoidable? It seems to be a part of human nature to fight. It's like an almost-inherent will to take advantage of people and abuse of power resides in us. History tells us that war is inevitable.

The Good War: An Oral History of World War II is as exactly as the title describes. Several dozens of people are interviewed of all different ethnicities, races, religions, ages, gender, etc. who all have one thing in common: their lives were forever changed by World War II. Some interviewees are rather prominent. Some are famous politicians, soldiers, doctors, filmmakers, etc. Others are just normal "everyday" people who found an honest living after the war. Much of the interviews take place in the 1980s as it was published in 1984. Anything before the 1980s, the author, Stud Terkel, makes note.

There is not much one could say about WWII that hasn't been covered in history classes or documentaries. It is one of the most discussed topics in recent human history. It changed the trajectories of nations, its inhabitants, and the people who govern them. While most history classes and films follow the larger picture of events, The Good War oftentimes examines the smaller cogs in the grand scheme of the war. It truly delves deep into the more personal stories that occurred.

The book itself is divided into "books" with each part having some overarching theme. This means each section contains a mixture of all kinds of personal histories. These include survival stories, government explanations of laws/acts, stories of overseers and those in charge and much more. It all reads at a nice pace as readers get breaks in between some of the more depressing or dense stories.

In terms of content, it feels rather disingenuous to say anything critical. These are stories from real people and some of those stories are heartbreaking. Though this is a natural thing, it is easy to see which interviewees are natural story-tellers and which ones are holding back in some way. In layman terms, it just means that some interviews/sections are easier reads than others. I can recall having a tough time wrapping my head around the "business" or "financial" section of the book. There are also interviews in which the author adds some sort of post-script. For the interviews that have dense subject matter, these added sections of subscripts/post-scripts provide clarity on whatever is discussed. In these ways, it brings the readers to the same level of understanding of the interviewee.

Stud Terkel is such a phenomenal interviewer. Throughout much of the book, he allows for each person to flow into their story uninterrupted. There are small instances of bias when it comes to certain questions. For the most part, it is bareboned and neutral to the fullest. When he does interject, he asks questions that reveal underlying sentiments from the interviewees or to clarify heavy information. In addition, he writes small introductions to each interviewee. These introductions provide small glimpses into these people's lives, but also further establish a tone or theme of a section. As an author, there are very little critiques on how he constructed this book. It would all be nitpicking at this point.

The anti-war sentiment is diabolically clear in this. No matter how justified an act of violence is, there are always casualties in it. That is the essential point being made. There are interviewees who do not hold any regrets in their part of WWII. Some are ultra-patriotic, fully convinced that they were fighting true evil. Even those people, however, express some sort of solemnity in losing loved ones or health.

In all honest truth, The Good War is such a phenomenal piece of writing. For history buffs, every single story will interest you. With a fair warning, I believe some stories might be too much for people. There are stories of extreme courage that might motivate some. It seems that almost every human emotion can be found in this book.

If you prefer to skip around (I do not judge reading habits), some of my personal favorite interviews are as follows: Peter Ota (pg. 28), E.B. (Sledgehammer) Sledge [pg. 59], Aton Bilek (pg. 85), Frieda Wolff (pg.287) Walter and Olga Nowak (pg. 423) and Grigori Baklanov (pg. 457). These are people whose stories immediately come to mind, but there are many more. There is the story of the soldier who came home and married his dead friend's wife. In addition, there are stories of the minorities in the US during the war. This is something I hardly ever recall learning while in public school. Violent uprisings in LA for mistreatment of the Latino population at the time (the Zoot Suit Riots). There are instances of Black soldiers getting killed by their own peers for stepping out of line. These were things that were barely talked about.. So much history is covered in a mere 600 pages.

I truly suggest that everyone attempt to read this book at some point. Wars and conflicts continue to occur. It's heartbreaking to see how many steps we've taken back. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict, U.S. intervention in foreign countries, and Russian/Chinese aggression are some things that come to mind.

All this provides an interesting perspective on war. Was that pain and suffering really worth it? We'll see memes online about first-person shooters of WWII or countless films about the glorification of it. As funny or well-made some of them may be, it's hard to understand that those were real people that were put through hell. The Good War helps with that.

Was it really heroic as they portrayed it? Or is it really just an attempt to justify some of the more horrific actions of man?

Recalling the first few sentences of this piece, are humans destined to continuously fight? I hope one day we can find some fashion of peace.

**George's note: Thank you everyone for your continued support! Feel free to give me any feedback and maybe leave a tip. If there is anything you'd like me to take a look at, please let me know!

***George's note pt. II: To any new readers, please look at my other pieces on my page!