The Best War Ever: America and World War II (The American Moment) | 
 enlarge | Author: Michael C.c. Adams
Publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press
Category: Book
List Price: $19.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  7 reviews
Sales Rank: 211962
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 208
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 8.8 x 5.8 x 0.6
ISBN: 0801846978
Dewey Decimal Number: 940.5373
EAN: 9780801846977
ASIN: 0801846978
Publication Date: November 1, 1993
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Product Description
Was it really such a "good war"? It was, if popular memory is to be trusted. We knew who the enemy was. We knew what we were fighting for. The war was good for the economy. It was liberating for women. It was a war of tanks and airplanes -- a cleaner war than World War I. Americans were united. Soldiers were proud. It was a time of prosperity, sound morality, and power. But according to historian Michael Adams, our memory is distorted, and it has left us with a misleading -- even dangerous -- legacy. Challenging many of our common assumptions about the period, Adams argues that our experience of World War II was positive but also disturbing, creating problems that continue to plague us today.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 2 more reviews...
 Should be included in anyone's WWII reading August 22, 2008
Some of the negative reviews for this book are puzzling. I found it well written and appropriately argued. I think it is important, particularly for a younger generation of which I'm a part, to understand a more accurate picture of WWII. For one, maybe we shouldn't feel so bad about ourselves when we judge our generation against "the greatest." And perhaps soldiers in Vietnam did not face such different conditions than the boys spread around the world in the 40s. If read with a true desire to learn, any supposed slant some feel this book professes should not bear heavily on the reader.
The book offers many thinking points such as what young men expected to be a part of in Vietnam after the WWII portrayal to which they were exposed and what the role of the teenager and woman became during and after the war. Most of the information in Adams' book is not new, but it is arranged well and framed into the context of how perceptions of this generation, time period, and supposed American perfection at war are often based upon lore and pride rather than fact and pragmatism.
 Poorly Justified and Opinionated Assertions December 27, 2007
1 out of 6 found this review helpful
I was also unfortunate enough to have to read this book for a college history class. During the class the majority of students (most of whom were adult returning students, military veterans, or history buffs) voted to ask to have it removed from the required list for the class. I can only hope the administration listened.
First off, though the book is published by Johns Hopkins University Press, and even proudly displays this fact on it's back cover in bold, do not be lulled into assuming you are getting the work of Johns Hopkins faculty. The author rather lists his affiliation as being with Northern Kentucky University.
It seems as though liberal academia, having pretty much destroyed Americans' faith and pride in just about everything else good and successful in their culture and history, are still not satisfied. Therefore, the need exists to go after the last bastion of American historical pride. That of the pride Americans still do, and should, feel at their key role in eradicating nazism and Imperial Japanese savagery, and largely saving both the western and eastern world from those scourges of evil.
When reading this book, one is immediately struck by the condescending attitude and tone. It is obvious that we, the ignorant and foolish Joe Sixpacks of the public, are dangerously misinformed about World War 2 just like we are about everything else, and only the endless indignant moaning of America-hating academia can save us by teaching us what and how we need to think.
Sadly, I think many young college students not familiar with WW2 history will believe much of the nonsense spewed forth between the covers of this "work." People like myself and others I have studied history with, who had the benefit of a parent who served in WW2 and/or have spent a lifetime studying the Second World War know the truths. No, it was not a perfect time, and the men and women of that period often realized many of those shortcomings, many worked to change them for the better. It was not nearly the dark and shameful period that is portrayed in this book, as much as some would like it to be.
All of the above represent only my personal opinions.
Debunking myths March 9, 2007
3 out of 7 found this review helpful
It is said that those who refuse to learn history are doomed to repeat it. But those who buy into a sanitized or mythical version of the truth, may do even worse; they may work so hard to avoid repeating what they think they have learned from history that they create even worse problems. This book presents the truth behind many of the collective myths comiong out of WWI. It is compelling reading, and highly recommended reading for every voter!
Historical Revisionism taken to the extreme April 29, 2006
12 out of 20 found this review helpful
This unfounded work is by far the worst case of historical revisionism I have yet to encounter in my studies. I was assigned this book in a history course, and found it to be extremely biased with no references whatsoever. Michael CC Adams simply notes things such as "various editions of Time Magazine from the 1940's" as his references. Adams makes broad claims that he fails to backup.
He does not include both sides of the story. For example, when talking about the battle of Okinawa he states that ONLY 7,000 Americans (the lowest figure I have ever encountered anywhere is 13,000) died whereas the United States "brutally" killed 110,000 Japanese. Adams does not even mention the enslavement of the Okinawan people by the Japanese forces or the extreme difficulties involved in taking such a difficult objective. He states "over 1500 shells were expended per Japanese kill", claiming this was "overkill." This is just one example of his twisted view of World War II.
If someone is going to undertake such an extreme view of the past, they should certainly reference it, and include both sides of the story.
the worst book ever March 22, 2004
20 out of 31 found this review helpful
I had to read this for my history class. It reads like a freshman paper, but longer. It's riddled with typos, downplays Hitler's role in the war, argues concentration camps were a normal way of dealing with 'criminal' aspects in society (whoops, didnt realize all those people were criminals!), cites holocaust deniers and revionists to back those claims up, and uses the words 'justifiably' and 'legitimately' without further explanation. Adams makes claims like he's the first to tell me when everyone knows about PTSD and Hiroshima by now. He is writing a revisionist history and usually those revising history (and any historian for that matter...) know better than to use phrases like "The truth is.." The whole point of history and alternate histories is that there is NO concrete truth, and one can't just go around proclaiming something as the TRUE cause for something else, when these things are open to interpretation. In general this book has poor organization and is very boring to read, and is only made worse by the shaky ground Adams bases his arguments on. He references sources such as "some feminists" or "one infantryman" as the sole support for bold and sweeping claims. I'm extremely interested in alternate discourses on history, and demythologizing the past...as long as these works are intelligent and well-researched and documented. One more example of poor writing before I go .. at one point Adams tells us that "One state experienced a 17 percent increase" in high school dropouts during the war. WHAT STATE??? How hard can it be to give that kind of information? Don't waste your time here.
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