The Myth of World War II Michael C. C. Adams book, The Best War Ever: America and World War II, attempts to dispel the numerous misconceptions of the Second World War. As the title suggests, Americans came out of the war with a positive view of the preceding five turbulent years. This myth was born from several factors. Due to the overseas setting of both theaters of the war, intense government propaganda, Hollywoods glamorization, and widespread economic prosperity, Americans were largely sheltered form the brutal truth of World War II. Even to this day, the generation of World War II is viewed as being superior in morality and unity. The popular illusion held that there were no ethnic or gender problems, families were happy and united, and children worked hard in school and read a great number of books. (115) It was a golden era when all Americans set aside their differences and united for a common cause which everyone put above all other priorities. The United States Army was thought of as more advanced in fighting ability, weapons, and supposedly held to a higher standard of ethics on the front. Americans that did die, died in an antiseptic, clean, neat way . . . gloriously. (100) Soldiers werent blown apart into pieces, they died honorably and nobly. Many factors had to be in place for such a distorted myth to come about. The central one being that the entire war was fought on foreign land with the exception of the bombing of Pearl Harbor. With the conflicts on the other sides of the oceans, Americans would not witness the brutality, destruction, and suffering of civilians and soldiers alike. Only the United States was not both a destroyer and a victim of the destruction in the war. (73) The civilians of the United States, therefore, relied on other sources to shape their view of World War II. Ads implied that if you bought a war bond your sacrifice was on par with that of the man in the front lines. (74) The US government and in...
