Homefront 
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2/13/2022
The Anti-Valentine: "Dear John" in Military Culture
by Susan Carruthers
The cultural phenomenon of the "Dear John" letter illustrates how wartime has created occasion for the policing of gendered norms of faithfulness and forbearance, as well as a script for breaking them.
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SOURCE: Military Times
1/25/2022
Susan Carruthers on The Myths and History of the "Dear John" Letter
The "Dear John" letter represents a convergence of the social history of the military and the culture of family, love and relationships. Historian Susan L. Carruthers explains how the term was coined and what she learned about romantic breakups in military history.
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SOURCE: New York Times
9/2/2020
We Are Still Living the Legacy of World War II
by Tom Hanks
The actor Tom Hanks reflects on the false narrative of closure of World War II. The forces unleashed by war and the struggle to reshape the world resonate today.
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SOURCE: New York Times
7/15/2020
Victory Gardens Were More About Solidarity Than Survival
“Americans like to portray that they worked hard and would have starved had they not gardened,” said Allan M. Winkler, a distinguished professor emeritus of history at Miami University of Ohio. “Victory gardens were a symbol of abundance and doing it yourself, but that was more symbolism than reality.”
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SOURCE: Reel Chicago
5/25/2020
A City At War: Chicago During WW II
The documentary, narrated by legendary journalist Bill Kurtis, is a comprehensive telling of nearly everything that happened in Chicagoland during World War II.
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5/8/2020
How Americans Experienced V-E Day, at Home and in Service
by Fred Zilian
The anniversary of V-E Day in 1945 is an occasion to place ourselves in the everyday lives of Americans at home and on the front lines.
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5/6/2020
The Heroism of an Ordinary American Woman on the World War II Homefront
by Jim DeFelice
We should definitely celebrate people like Henry Langrehr, the paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne, and the other troops who fought with them. But we should also spend a moment thanking people like his wife, who made their triumph possible.