The United States and the Second World War ─ New Perspectives on Diplomacy, War, and the Homefront

In this compelling book, G. Kurt Piehler and Sidney Pash bring together a collection of essays offering a fresh examination of American participation in the Second World War, including a long overdue reconsideration of such seminal topics as the forces leading the United States to enter World War II, the role of the American military in the Allied victory, and war-time planning for the postwar world, but also tackle new inquiries into life on the home front and America's commemoration of one of the most controversial and climatic events of the war-the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.

In this compelling book, G. Kurt Piehler and Sidney Pash bring together a collection of essays offering a fresh examination of American participation in the Second World War, including a long overdue reconsideration of such seminal topics as the forces leading the United States to enter World War II, the role of the American military in the Allied victory, and war-time planning for the postwar world, but also tackle new inquiries into life on the home front and America's commemoration of one of the most controversial and climatic events of the war-the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.

These outstanding historians cover crucial moments such as:
Franklin D. Roosevelt's pivotal, if at times indecisive, role in leading the United States
The miscalculation of Japanese intentions by American diplomats and the failure of deterrence in preventing war in the Pacific
The experiences and contributions of conscientious objectors to American society in this time of total war
The decision of the United States to fight with an ineffective battle tank at the expense of American lives
The Coast Guard's contribution to the D-Day Landing
How elite foreign policy organizations prior to V-J Day sought to influence American occupation policies regarding Japan

With these essays and much more, The United States in the Second World War is sure to prove a classic to World War II buffs.

G. Kurt Piehler is Associate Professor of History & Director, Institute on World War II and the Human Experience and Florida State University. Piehler is author and editor of books on military history.

Sidney Pash is Assistant Professor in the Department of Government and History, Fayetteville (North Carolina) State University and writes on American diplomatic history.