Good Americans
Good Americans

Author: Christopher M. Sterba

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2003-03-27

Total Pages: 282

ISBN-13: 0199923906

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Among the Americans who joined the ranks of the Doughboys fighting World War I were thousands of America's newest residents. Good Americans examines the contributions of Italian and Jewish immigrants, both on the homefront and overseas, in the Great War. While residing in strong, insular communities, both groups faced a barrage of demands to participate in a conflict that had been raging in their home countries for nearly three years. Italians and Jews "did their bit" in relief, recruitment, conservation, and war bond campaigns, while immigrants and second-generation ethnic soldiers fought on the Western front. Within a year of the Armistice, they found themselves redefined as foreigners and perceived as a major threat to American life, rather than remembered as participants in its defense. Wartime experiences, Christopher Sterba argues, served to deeply politicize first and second generation immigrants, greatly accelerating their transformation from relatively powerless newcomers to a major political force in the United States during the New Deal and beyond.

Histories of American Army Units
Histories of American Army Units

Author: Charles Emil Dornbusch

Publisher: Washington : Department of the Army, Office of the Adjutant General, Special Services Division, Library and Service Club Branch

Published: 1956

Total Pages: 330

ISBN-13:

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Faith in the Fight
Faith in the Fight

Author: Jonathan H. Ebel

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2014-02-24

Total Pages: 269

ISBN-13: 0691162182

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Faith in the Fight tells a story of religion, soldiering, suffering, and death in the Great War. Recovering the thoughts and experiences of American troops, nurses, and aid workers through their letters, diaries, and memoirs, Jonathan Ebel describes how religion--primarily Christianity--encouraged these young men and women to fight and die, sustained them through war's chaos, and shaped their responses to the war's aftermath. The book reveals the surprising frequency with which Americans who fought viewed the war as a religious challenge that could lead to individual and national redemption. Believing in a "Christianity of the sword," these Americans responded to the war by reasserting their religious faith and proclaiming America God-chosen and righteous in its mission. And while the war sometimes challenged these beliefs, it did not fundamentally alter them. Revising the conventional view that the war was universally disillusioning, Faith in the Fight argues that the war in fact strengthened the religious beliefs of the Americans who fought, and that it helped spark a religiously charged revival of many prewar orthodoxies during a postwar period marked by race riots, labor wars, communist witch hunts, and gender struggles. For many Americans, Ebel argues, the postwar period was actually one of "reillusionment." Demonstrating the deep connections between Christianity and Americans' experience of the First World War, Faith in the Fight encourages us to examine the religious dimensions of America's wars, past and present, and to work toward a deeper understanding of religion and violence in American history.

Hartford in World War I
Hartford in World War I

Author: David Drury

Publisher: Arcadia Publishing

Published: 2015

Total Pages: 144

ISBN-13: 1626197962

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When the United States Congress declared war in April 1917, Connecticut answered the call to arms. As the capital, Hartford was the hub of the state's war effort. The city hosted major rallies and recruitment drives, and leaders from Hartford directed efforts to inspire patriotism and sacrifice. Allied needs for war materiel and goods were insatiable, and local manufacturers like Colt's Patent Firearms Manufacturing Company worked around the clock to meet the demand. Men and women from the area battled in the trenches, volunteered in the hospitals and canteens and served in the air and on the high seas. A century later, this legacy of service and sacrifice is memorialized by local monuments. Author David Drury traces the extraordinary story of Hartford during World War I.

Revered Commander, Maligned General
Revered Commander, Maligned General

Author: Michael E. Shay

Publisher: University of Missouri Press

Published: 2011-04-13

Total Pages: 290

ISBN-13: 0826272517

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Major General Clarence Ransom Edwards is a vital figure in American military history, yet his contribution to the U.S. efforts in World War I has often been ignored or presented in unflattering terms. Most accounts focus on the disagreements he had with General John J. Pershing, who dismissed Edwards from the command of the 26th (“Yankee”) Division just weeks before the war's end. The notoriety of the Pershing incident has caused some to view Edwards as simply a “political general” with a controversial career. But Clarence Edwards, though often a divisive figure, was a greater man than that. A revered and admired officer whose men called him “Daddy,” Edwards attained an impressive forty-year career, one matched by few wartime leaders. Michael E. Shay presents a complete portrait of this notable American and his many merits in Revered Commander, Maligned General. This long-overdue first full-length biography of General Clarence Edwards opens with his early years in Cleveland, Ohio and his turbulent times at West Point. The book details the crucial roles Edwards filled in staff and field commands for the Army before the outbreak of World War I in 1917: Adjutant-General with General Henry Ware Lawton in the Philippine-American War, first chief of the Bureau of Insular Affairs, and commander of U.S. forces in the Panama Canal Zone. Revered Commander, Maligned General follows Edwards as he forms the famous Yankee Division and leads his men into France. The conflict between Edwards and Pershing is placed in context, illuminating the disputes that led to Edwards being relieved of command. This well-researched biography quotes a wealth of primary sources in recounting the life of an important American, a man of loyalty and service who is largely misunderstood. Photographs of Edwards, his troops, and his kin—many from Edwards’ own collection—complement the narrative. In addition, several maps aid readers in following General Edwards as his career moves from the U.S. to Central America to Europe and back stateside. Shay’s portrayalof General Edwards finally provides a balanced account of this unique U.S. military leader.