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The Stories That Helped Us Win World War II
by Molly Guptill Manning
While the Nazis were burning hundreds of millions of books across Europe, America printed and shipped 140 million books to its troops. The "heartwarming" story of how an army of librarians and publishers lifted spirits and built a new democratic audience of readers is as inspiring today as it was then (New York Times).
When America entered World War II in 1941, we faced an enemy that had banned and burned over 100 million books and caused fearful citizens to hide or destroy many more. Outraged librarians launched a campaign to send free books to American troops and gathered 20 million hardcover donations. In 1943, the War Department and the publishing industry stepped in with an extraordinary program: 120 million small, lightweight paperbacks, for troops to carry in their pockets and their rucksacks, in every theater of war.
Comprising 1,200 different titles of every imaginable type, these paperbacks were beloved by the troops and are still fondly remembered today. Soldiers read them while waiting to land at Normandy; in hellish trenches in the midst of battles in the Pacific; in field hospitals; and on long bombing flights. They wrote to the authors, many of whom responded to every letter. They helped rescue The Great Gatsby from obscurity. They made Betty Smith, author of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, into a national icon. When Books Went to War is an inspiring story for history buffs and book lovers alike.
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This information about When Books Went to War was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Molly Guptill Manning is an author, historian, curator, and associate professor of law at New York Law School. She is the author of the New York Times bestseller When Books Went to War, The Myth of Ephraim Tutt, and The War of Words. In 2026, her next book, A Librarian's War, will be published. She has spoken across the country about the power of the written word, and has curated the exhibit, "The Best-Read Army in the World," which launched in New York City in 2023 and is traveling around the United States. The exhibit showcases the essential role that books, magazines, and newspapers played in World War II.
Before she became a professor, Molly worked in the New York federal courts for thirteen years. She earned a B.A. and M.A. in American history, a J.D. at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, and an M.A. in Museum Studies from NYU.
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