War Letters: Extraordinary Correspondence from American Wars

"War Letters: Extraordinary Corrspondence from American Wars" is an amazing anthology. Edited by Andrew Carroll and featuring an introduction by Douglas Brinkley, this book brings together a wide range of letters written by military personnel, nurses, family members, and others who have been part of the wars fought by the United States from the Civil War onward. The book is divided into several sections: "The Civil War"; "World War I"; "World War II"; "The Korean War & The Cold War"; and "The Vietnam War, The Persian Gulf War, Somalia, and Bosnia."Editor Carroll has been quoted as calling these letters "this nation's great undiscovered literature." In his foreword, Brinkley gives probably the best description of the content of these letters: "impassioned evocations of love and sacrifice, duty and honor, fear and confusion, courage and perseverance, rage and the intimations of mortality that spark it." The letters are mostly by ordinary people, but the letters of some famous individuals are included. There are letters from both men and women, and from people of various ethnic backgrounds.Enhancing the book is the presence of many historic photographs, as well as facsimiles of some of the letters. Probably the most extraordinary photograph is that of a letter pierced by a scorched bullet hole (the soldier, who was unharmed, was carrying the letter in his backpack when he got shot).It is not really possible in a short review to cover all of the remarkable highlights of this anthology. But some letters that particularly struck me: the angry, frustrated rant of an anonymous Union soldier from the Civil War; a letter by an African-American soldier serving in the Union army during the Civil War; General John Pershing's letter praising African-American soldiers who served in World War I; a Red Cross nurse's touching letter of condolence to the mother of a soldier who died during wartime; an eyewitness account of the attack on Pearl Harbor; an amazing letter from Adolf Hitler's nephew, Patrick, to Franklin D. Roosevelt; a letter from a Japanese-American woman who was placed in an internment camp; and a letter from a real-life "Rosie the Riveter." The letters are accompanied by supplemental notes that put them in historical and personal perspective. This is a wonderful book that offers some very human perspectives on history.

There can hardly be anything more personal and poignant that WAR LETTERS. Love letters come close but the emotions that a person taps when remembering some buddy blown away, nights of fear from being under fire, or some family member far away, result in an outpouring of oneself onto paper that is the essence of humanity. The letters here run the gamut of human emotional expression: fear, anger, grief, joy, love, faith, hope, courage, humor. They are from every major war or engagement that the US has been in from the Civil War through to the Gulf War and finally Bosnia and Kosovo. Soldiers, their family members, journalists, doctors and nurses, all have something to say to someone else that suddenly seems very important in the shadow of war. If you step back from the emotional impact for a moment and look at this book objectively, the the appeal of these letters and the willingness of the writers or recipients to make them public, may seem a bit puzzling. Afterall, they are all very personal letters. The mystery is removed when you realize that it's not a coincidence that these letters are singularly American; I doubt there would be such an equivalent public sharing from citizens elsewhere. Our openess is sometimes called American bravado and exhibitionism by others, but as these letters of humanity plainly show, they are more properly seen as simple testaments to honesty and truth.I for one am proud of a country that appreciates such human expressions but am even more proud of the many men and women who served or waited for those who did, and whose stories are told here. They, more than most of us, can appreciate the following sentiments."Everything that I have written is closely related to something that I have lived through." (Henrik Ibsen)

Let me start this review by confessing that I am biased. One of my letters from Vietnam is included in the book. I therefore view the book differently from the average reader. I also got an advance copy of the book a week before the official release date, and have been able to read it.Andrew Carroll produced this book by reading through almost 50,000 letters and selected roughly 200 that best show what everyday life in the military - and in war - are like from the viewpoint of the average soldier, sailor, marine, and airman. Andy was able to get these letters by persuading Dear Abby to publish an appeal in her column on Veteran's Day in 1998. The column urged readers to contribute these letters so that the sacrifices of the writers would not be forgotten. The result was a flood of 50,000 letters - some faded, some muddy, some blood-stained, and one pierced by a bullet. One letter was written on Hitler's personal stationary by an American sergeant who worked in Hitler's personal quarters in Germany just after WW II. What could be a better symbol of justice?The letter writers' views are very different than the views you will get by reading the memoirs of a general or an admiral. When I was in the Army, there was a wonderful comment that explained life in the Infantry: "The general gets the glory, The family gets the body, and We get another mission."Your view of the military - and of war - changes depending on your position in this food chain. Overcoming an enemy machine gun is an interesting technical problem when you are circling a firefight in a helicopter at 1,000 feet. You take a very different view of the problem when you are so close to the machine gun that your body pulses from the shock wave of the muzzle blast.These letters were written by soldiers while they were in the military. They are describing events that happened that day, the pervious day, or the previous week. Their memories are very fresh. Their views also are very different from the views that someone might have when writing his memoirs thirty years later. In thirty years the everyday pains, problems, and terrors could very well be forgotten or become humorous.The book groups these letters by war or police action. There are sections for letters from the Civil War, WW I (the war to end wars), WW II, Vietnam War, Desert Storm, and Somolia/Bosnia/Kosovo.Some things never change. The Civil War letter writers grumble about poor food, tiresome marches, mindless sergeants and incompetent officers. The Vietnam letter writers (myself included) grumbled about the same things.One anguished letter was from an officer in Vietnam who was torn by his need to hide his opposition to the war for fear of demoralizing his men. At the end of the letter is a brief comment explaining that the officer stepped on a mine and died shortly after writing this letter. Welcome to life in the military. Welcome to war.You should read this book if you want to see what li