Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
4th out of 6 books
—
2 voters
War Letters: Extraordinary Correspondence from American Wars
In 1998, Andrew Carroll founded the Legacy Project, with the goal of remembering Americans who have served their nation and preserving their letters for posterity. Since then, over 50,000 letters have poured in from around the country. Nearly two hundred of them comprise this amazing collection -- including never-before-published letters that appear in the new afterword. H...more
Paperback, 512 pages
Published
April 30th 2002
by Scribner
(first published May 15th 2001)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
770)
This book does not lend itself to being read word for word. I did read most of it. It works best if the reader browses rather than reading cover to cover.
The Editor, Andrew Carroll, founded the Legacy Project with the goal of preserving the letters of service people for posterity. This volume covers the Civil War, WW I, WW II, Korea, The Cold War, Vietnam, the First Gulf War, Somalia and Bosnia. For reasons that are as much personal as anything, I spent most of my time in the WW II section. It i...more
The Editor, Andrew Carroll, founded the Legacy Project with the goal of preserving the letters of service people for posterity. This volume covers the Civil War, WW I, WW II, Korea, The Cold War, Vietnam, the First Gulf War, Somalia and Bosnia. For reasons that are as much personal as anything, I spent most of my time in the WW II section. It i...more
An incredible collection of correspondence from the Revolutionary War through the first Gulf War. Some letters from the front to home; other letters from home to a soldier. The book includes notes after the letters as to whether the soldier made it home or not. The letters are sweet, bitter, depressed, exuberant. They combine to paint a frank portrait of war, both good and not so good.
I think I'm in love with Andrew Carroll. I LOVE old letters, I love American history, and I especially love war histories told on a personal level. On top of it all, Carroll dedicated this book to the American women who experienced war both from the home and from the front lines, and who were primarily responsible for keeping the letters and the memories safe so that those stories would be remembered. American history with a focus on women during war? I think I just died and went to heaven.
Anywa...more
Anywa...more
I love primary sources and as an old retired AF guy I am still a military history junkie. This book contains letters from the Civil War and letters from more recent times to include the Vietnam War, the Persian Gulf War, Somalia and Bosnia. There are letters from famous people like General Sherman and Teddy Roosevelt and a letter from Black Jack Pershing to his nine year old son. But there are more letters from privates, spouses, nurses and all sorts of people. I'm lucky enough to retain letters...more
At first, I was disappointed that we didn't get to spend more time with the soldiers. Each individual letter (although framed with biographical or historical reference) to a dear acquaintance - as personal as they were - left me thinking I'd be better suited to a book which followed one soldier for his/her entire deployment.
But that feeling faded, the more letters I read. It was amazing to see what emotions resonated from World War I to the Gulf War. The differences were also telling - such as t...more
But that feeling faded, the more letters I read. It was amazing to see what emotions resonated from World War I to the Gulf War. The differences were also telling - such as t...more
This is an amazing book! At times you forget that this is non-fiction, getting swept into the many author's discussion of the world around them. The additional editor's notes about the situation in the world at the time the letter was written puts you in the right frame of mind. Further, incorporating what happened to the authors during the war gives that final personal touch!
This book should be required reading for all American high school students. This book is about much more than war. It is reading history through the letters of individual Americans.
Books like this should be MANDATORY reading in schools. Especially in an era of pushbutton wars, where you don't encounter lines for bread, or even see the bodies of the dead soldiers being returned. A heavy, intense and extremely personal collection of letters to and from people 'in the field'
You will cry, that is quaranteed, but also smile and wonder and think and now and then chuckle. This is too much to read at one sitting but it is soul stirring and wonderful. How best to remember us if not...more
You will cry, that is quaranteed, but also smile and wonder and think and now and then chuckle. This is too much to read at one sitting but it is soul stirring and wonderful. How best to remember us if not...more
A great book if, like me, you enjoy reading letters. Books like this one and Carroll's other book, Letters to a Nation, give you a different perspective of history - the perspective of the people who lived it. I especially enjoyed this book because it didn't just give the letters of soldiers; you also get a look into the feelings of those that the soldiers left at home. I felt that this book offered a nice range and variety of letters from famous people to common, everyday people and from wistfu...more
War letters includes 200 letters from soldiers from various wars; Vietnam, Persian, WWI, WWII etc. There's nothing more personal than the words put into a letter and Andrew Carroll unexpectedly began another project; The Legacy Project to preserve these priceless testaments to what war is really like. This is a humbling book and one that should be read by all concerned about the effects of war on our soldiers.
While most Americans don't think about our ongoing war efforts on a daily basis we are...more
While most Americans don't think about our ongoing war efforts on a daily basis we are...more
One of my absolute favorite books. The combination of actual letters written during wartime (by both unknown and well known people) and the historical context of each series of letters (explaining a battle the letter writer refers to, for example) is quite compelling. Further, many letters conclude with a 'postscript', if you will, of what happened to the letter writer. Did he make it home? I love that all proceeds go toward veteran groups. And I love that the sentiments of war are the same from...more
In 1998, Andrew Carroll founded the Legacy Project, with the goal of remembering Americans who have served their nation and preserving their letters for posterity. Since then, over 50,000 letters have poured in from around the country. Nearly two hundred of them comprise this amazing collection -- including never-before-published letters that appear in the new afterword. Here are letters from the Civil War, World War I, World War II, Korea, the Cold War, Vietnam, the Persian Gulf war, Somalia, a...more
This is such an absolutely amazing book. It is very hard to read without getting emotional but it is worth the tears. I can not count the number of times my heart broke during this book but it is so full of such extraordinarily personal accounts of war that I just couldn't help myself.
This book chronicles the letters of war from the Civil War to Desert Storm. There are letters from General to the President, General to General, Lieutenant to Soldier, Soldier to his family, Family to Soldier, Sol...more
This book chronicles the letters of war from the Civil War to Desert Storm. There are letters from General to the President, General to General, Lieutenant to Soldier, Soldier to his family, Family to Soldier, Sol...more
Find the enhanced version of this and other reviews at: http://flashlightcommentary.blogspot....
This was one of maybe ten books my husband owned when we got married. I remember packing it into a box when he deployed and thinking it looked interesting. Long story short it took three years and two kids for me to get around to it. Life happens right?
Carroll's collection of war letters is one of the most interesting nonfiction pieces I've had the pleasure of picking up. It is one thing to read the...more
This was one of maybe ten books my husband owned when we got married. I remember packing it into a box when he deployed and thinking it looked interesting. Long story short it took three years and two kids for me to get around to it. Life happens right?
Carroll's collection of war letters is one of the most interesting nonfiction pieces I've had the pleasure of picking up. It is one thing to read the...more
The letters within this book encompass the major American wars starting with the Civil War and Ending with the Gulf War. The chapter of Civil War letters was tedious to get through, the English language has evolved quite a bit since that era and so many of the letters, especially the ones written by semi-literate soldiers were exceptionally confusing to read. I was shocked to find the author had scrunched together, Vietnam, Bosnia and The Gulf War and together into the last chapter. I would thin...more
Gearing up for the Ken Burns WW2 documentary at the end of the month! We'll call this 4.5 stars. I may go back to change it to 5.
I think the greatest thing about this was that the letters so often said the same things - doesn't matter if it was written in a letter during the Civil War or an e-mail during the first Iraq war. It was really hard to read some of the letters, feel like you know the writer, and then have the little italics under it say he died shortly after mailing it. Like the man w...more
I think the greatest thing about this was that the letters so often said the same things - doesn't matter if it was written in a letter during the Civil War or an e-mail during the first Iraq war. It was really hard to read some of the letters, feel like you know the writer, and then have the little italics under it say he died shortly after mailing it. Like the man w...more
This book fascinated me. I know that writing letters is becoming a lost art and so I was studying the history and also the craft of writing within it. I'll admit that I didn't get far into the Vietnam era before I had to stop. It was too hard to read. Maybe it's because my parents have talked about Vietnam with censure, or that I remember flashes of news from the first Gulf War, or that I have and had family and friends in Iraq and Afgahnistan as I was reading this, but I couldn't read it, could...more
Oct 12, 2009
Maria
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
audio-books,
non-fiction
Phenomenal book. Carroll lost all his family's letters in a house fire and so wrote to Dear Abby to warn others of the danger of losing their history. He set up a post office box and volunteered to keep photocopies of anyone's letters. He received 50,000 responses. This books contains a few of them.
The narration gives some context, weaving together the different letters starting with the Civil War. FABULOUS!! I recommended that my library purchase the other audiobooks that Carroll has published...more
The narration gives some context, weaving together the different letters starting with the Civil War. FABULOUS!! I recommended that my library purchase the other audiobooks that Carroll has published...more
These letters and the people who wrote them: loving, teasing, urgent, painful, incredibly brave, vulnerable, kind . . . but at times I felt uncomfortable, reading these letters, that I had no right.
Letters are introduced by the editor, giving some context, and we are usually told "what happened." The outcomes are mixed, as one can imagine.
Letters are introduced by the editor, giving some context, and we are usually told "what happened." The outcomes are mixed, as one can imagine.
A collection of letters written during wars beginning with the Civil War and continuing till the Iraqi war. Very well done.
I also got through 8 of 16 audio disks of Dickens' "Great Expectations." I liked every other book I've read by him; I had great expectations' of this book and they were not met. I finally pulled the plug.
I also got through 8 of 16 audio disks of Dickens' "Great Expectations." I liked every other book I've read by him; I had great expectations' of this book and they were not met. I finally pulled the plug.
This is a collection of war letters from the Civil War, WWI, WWII, Korea, Cold War, Vietnam, Persian Gulf, Somalia, and Bosnia. The author adds a few notes to the ends of the letters to give historical context and updates about the letter writer. Very emotional. Does not need to be read in order. I enjoyed skipping around.
Because I am an "Army Brat" I loved this book. The letters are touching, inspiring, interesting. The broad range of letters over the extended period of time brought better understanding of what the military did and does to preserve our freedom, at great personal cost.
I listened to this book on audio and I have never been so pleased to have picked audio. I was laughing and sometimes tearful at the letters in this book. It gave me such a personal connection with the men and women who were writing. Such realness of war in this book. I don't care much for traditional history writing, but I feel I got a lot of history in this book. Real history from the people who were serving in the wars. Their letters of anguish, love, happiness and heartache.
This book had let...more
This book had let...more
This is an awesome collection of letters writen to and from soldiers on both sides of wars from the American Civil War up to Vietnam and the Persian Gulf. Some will make you laugh, some will make you cry. Some might even haunt you for a while. This is a touching book that will let you see the war and the homefront through the eyes of those that were there.
I think this was the longest-running reading of a book I've ever had. It was recommended to me by my brother and a good thought-provoking read. It didn't take me long because it was boring but because it's a collection of tons of different letters that don't fit together into a single story. So it's interesting stuff to read but not a page turner. Because each letter (or sometimes series of letters) by a specific person stands on it's own I kept finding myself walking away after reading a few in...more
This book is a collection of letters from American wars since the Civil War. The letters are great snapshots in time, bringing their histories alive. But what surprised me was the quality of the editor's (/author's) comments and narrations between each letter that strings them all into a very concise and well told history of American warfare from the soldiers' point of view. Great book.
These very personal letters & stories always get to me. Listened to the audiobook with letters read by Tom Brokaw, David Strathairn, Joan Allen & many more recognizable voices. Good stuff.
My favorite quote from this book: "I wanna marry you...to spend the rest of my life with you telling me not to bite my fingernails." from a letter written by Sid Diamond, WWII
Absolutely beautiful, great insight to every war America has fought told by the soldiers that wrote their letters to loved ones ... Absolutely recommend !!
I really liked this book because of the various types of correspondence included in it. It allows the reader to get a different perspective of war.
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
Jun 08, 2010 02:13pm
Jun 08, 2010 08:41pm