The Bad City in the Good War: San Francisco, Los Angeles, Oakland, and San Diego Contributor(s): Lotchin, Roger W. (Author) |
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ISBN: 0253215463 ISBN-13: 9780253215468 Publisher: Indiana University Press OUR PRICE: $25.74 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: March 2003 Annotation: How the diverse populations of urban California joined hands to defeat totalitarianism during World War II. |
Additional Information |
BISAC Categories: - History | United States - 20th Century - History | United States - State & Local - West (ak, Ca, Co, Hi, Id, Mt, Nv, Ut, Wy) - History | Military - World War Ii |
Dewey: 940.537 |
LCCN: 2002010943 |
Series: American West in the Twentieth Century |
Physical Information: 0.88" H x 6.06" W x 9.34" (0.98 lbs) 328 pages |
Themes: - Chronological Period - 1940's - Cultural Region - West Coast - Geographic Orientation - California - Locality - Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA - Locality - Oakland, California - Locality - San Diego, California - Locality - San Francisco, California - Chronological Period - 20th Century - Cultural Region - Western U.S. - Cultural Region - Southern California |
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
Publisher Description: Riders were very appropriate to a western war, but these horsemen could not have been more different. One group patrolled the oceanfront of 'The City' after dark. While the residents of the nearby Sunset District and Seacliff huddled around the radios in their living rooms, curtains pulled and blinds lowered, listening to war news or to 'One Man's Family, ' other residents rode the beaches. Mounted on their own ponies, the men of the San Francisco Polo Club labored through the sands of China Beach, Baker Beach, and the Ten Mile Beach, looking for Imperial Japanese intruders. --from the book In the mythology of the West, the city was seen as a place of danger and corruption, but the bad city proved its mettle during the Good War. In this book, Roger W. Lotchin has written the first comprehensive study of California's urban home front. United by fear of totalitarianism, the diverse population of California's cities came together to protect their homes and to aid in the war effort. Whether it involved fighting in Europe or Asia, migrating to a defense center, writing to service personnel at the front, building war machines in converted factories, giving pennies at school for war bonds, saving scrap material, or pounding a civil defense beat, urban California's participation was immediate, constant, and unflagging. Although many people worked in offices, factories, or barracks, the wartime community was also fed by a vast army of volunteers, which until now has been largely overlooked. The Bad City in the Good War is a comprehensive local history of the California home front that restores a little-known part of the story of the Second World War. |