United We Stand: A Visual Journey of Wartime Patriotism

Rating:
Summary: What a visual journey!
Review: "A Visual Journey of Wartime Patriotism United We Stand" by Richard J. Perry is an outstanding piece on World War II. I reccomend it as a must see for anyone interested in WWII. It presents a stunning display of images, as well as some interseting and insightful tidbits of text. I am excited to use this book in my social studies classroom.

Rating:
Summary: United We Stand
Review: "United We Stand" by Richard Perry is a wonderful look at an earlier era when, like today, the country stood together to face a common enemy. Not only is the book a visual delight and a capsule of memories for those who lived through the war, but it clearly illustrates the differences in warfare between then and now. Today we have a professional and technologically sophisticated military that can strike with surgical precision with few American lives lost. Currently, unless one has a relative or friend in the military or was involved in the destruction of the World Trade Center; we experience little personal sacrifice as the war on terrorism progresses.

Perry graphically demonstrates that WW II affected everyone on a very personal level and that symbols of the war and patriotism thoroughly permeated society. Particularly poignant were the reminders of how the role of women changed during the war, how the population dealt with common experience of rationing and the personalization of instruments and the environment of war with reminders of why one was fighting (pictures and fanciful images of "the girl back home". Finally, the book reminds us of our own government's propaganda during the conflict. While brimming with nostalgia, this book plays an important role by illustrating how 60 years has changed the country's united response to military conflict.

Rating:
Summary: What a visual journey!
Review: "A Visual Journey of Wartime Patriotism United We Stand" by Richard J. Perry is an outstanding piece on World War II. I reccomend it as a must see for anyone interested in WWII. It presents a stunning display of images, as well as some interseting and insightful tidbits of text. I am excited to use this book in my social studies classroom.

Rating:
Summary: One man's patriotic collection.
Review: A book of three hundred printed items of wartime patriotism from the collection of author Richard Perry that is only worth getting if you are interested in the graphic design of this sort of material. There should have been a lot more than just three hundred items.

Unfortunately the book is not much more than a weakly organised scrapbook, it starts with an introduction of eighteen pages by the author, covering the military and Home Front during the war years, this is followed by three pages titled Great Britain. The remainder of the pages are filled with pictures of rather loosely organised material, such as magazine covers, V Mail, pin-ups, badges and more. Most of these items have no captions and I thought this was a major omission. There are no chapters, no index and no bibliography.

Covering exactly the same subject is 'America's Wartime Scrapbook', by Charles Numark and Martin Jacobs. This is a large size, sixty-four page book with an amazing 1500 patriotic items shown. Each themed spread has one still life photo with dozens of items, all carefully arranged so you can see the material and yet creating an interesting scrapbook feel. With so much colorful stuff to look at it does get a bit overwhelming.

These three other books also cover patriotism during the war years. 'Design For Victory' by William Bird and Harry Rubenstein, an excellent paperback with 150 plus posters, covering military and domestic themes. 'Home Front America' by Robert Heide and John Gilmam, this concentrates on popular culture during the war years with good text and plenty of pictures. 'V for Victory' by Stan Cohen, a huge photo book of the Home Front with plenty of patriotic items of the type featured in 'United We Stand'

I do like the material in 'United We Stand' but I think the publishers should have put a bit more effort into making the book more cohesive rather than a pretty picture book of someone's collection of patriotic printed items.

Rating:
Summary: Great book for a picturesque look at patriotism
Review: I picked up this book because of it's eyecatching front cover and enjoyed flipping through it over and over again. This book is a great way to look back on the history of campaigning in hard times for the support of our soldiers. I personally enjoyed the quotes from people all over the United States remembering small details of the life and times during WWII. Although the book does not have a lot of articles or descriptions of the era, it was not meant to lecture on the life and times but rather give vignettes of history. The pictures remind you of going through a box hidden in your grandmother's basement of old keepsakes. It is obvious from the author, a U.S. Navy veteran, that a lot of care went into this collection.

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Summary: A full-color showcase of collectible memorabilia
Review: United We Stand!: A Visual Journey Of Wartime Patriotism by U.S. Navy veteran and war memorabilia collector Richard J. Perry is a full-color showcase of collectible memorabilia originally crafted to encourage American patriotism during the American involvement in the Second World War and which ranged from pictures World War II pin-up girls, to pins and buttons, to posters advertising war bonds. A "reader friendly" descriptive text accessibly explains the history and purpose of the more unusual items, but the majority of United We Stand! is dedicated to the photographs of unique memorabilia. Highly recommended for World War II history buffs, collectors and dealers, Collectors Press is donating a portion of the profits from the sales of this unique volume to the American Red Cross.