Their Last Battle: The Fight For The National World War II Memorial

by Nicolaus Mills

On Memorial Day weekend in 2004, the National World War II Memorial on the Mall in Washington will officially open to the public. What began as a casual conversation between a Congresswoman and one of her constituents in 1987 grew into a struggle that lasted more than four times longer than it took America to fight the war itself. Its rocky progress to completion is a compelling story about how America chooses to memorialize its past and how we view World War II.Nicolaus Mills recounts the development of the Washington Mall, from its time as swampland to Southern outrage over the Lincoln Memorial to Maya Lin's controversial Vietnam Veterans' Memorial. The World War II Memorial would prove just as controversial; it took the support of WW II vet Bob Dole and actor Tom Hanks to overrule the strong objections of interest groups, self-appointed art critics, and others.In Their Last Battle , a story vividly narrated through interviews with politicians and vets, architects and citizens, Mills discovers what a public monument can tell us about America and the values it honors.

Genres: World War II, Nonfiction

320 pages, Paperback

First published May 4, 2004

Reviews

[Jim Blessing · Rating 2 out of 5]

Picked this book up on a cruise. The more interesting parts were actually the discussions of the earlier war memorials.

[Ken Proudfoot · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good history of how this monument was finally built.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an interesting civics lesson on how the politics of "memorilizing" can be as disheartening as the politics of politics. The author does a decent job describing what went on, but if you want the real story buy me a drink.

Full disclosuer: I did sit for several hours of interviews with the author and am mentioned a few times in the book (primarily in the credits for "based on an interview with...")