This book brings together a collection of chapters offering a fresh examination of American participation in World War II, 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. The book also tackles 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 ... More

This book brings together a collection of chapters offering a fresh examination of American participation in World War II, 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. The book also tackles 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. The chapters 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; and how elite foreign policy organizations prior to V-J Day sought to influence American occupation policies regarding Japan.