The history of those who shed those other tears, the history of those anonymous millions, is what Terkel wants readers and listeners to come away with. What's it like to be that goofy little soldier, scared stiff, with his bayonet aimed at Christ? What's it like to have been a woman in a defense-plant job during World War II? What's it like to be a kid at the front lines? It's all funny and tragic at the same time.
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You know — we've had to imagine the war here, and we have imagined that it was being fought by read more
You know — we've had to imagine the war here, and we have imagined that it was being fought by aging men like ourselves. We had forgotten that the wars were fought by babies. When I saw those freashly shaved faces, it was a shock. 'My God, my God —' I said to myself, 'it's the Children's Crusade.'
Only two great groups of animals, men and ants, indulge in highly organized mass warfare.
Only two great groups of animals, men and ants, indulge in highly organized mass warfare.
Fighting men are the city's fortress.
Fighting men are the city's fortress.
Man has no right to kill his brother. It is no excuse that he does so in uniform: he only read more
Man has no right to kill his brother. It is no excuse that he does so in uniform: he only adds the infamy of servitude to the crime of murder.
It seems like such a terrible shame that innocent civilians have to get hurt in wars, otherwise combat would be read more
It seems like such a terrible shame that innocent civilians have to get hurt in wars, otherwise combat would be such a wonderfully healthy way to rid the human race of unneeded trash.
If war should sweep our commerce from the seas, another generation will restore it. If war exhausts our treasury, future read more
If war should sweep our commerce from the seas, another generation will restore it. If war exhausts our treasury, future industry will replenish it. If war desiccate and lay waste our fields, under new cultivation they will grow green again and ripen to future harvest. If the walls of yonder Capitol should fall and its decorations be covered by the dust of battle, all these can be rebuilt. But who shall reconstruct the fabric of a demolished government; who shall dwell in the well-proportioned columns of constitutional liberty; who shall frame together the skillful architecture which unites sovereignty with state's rights, individual security with prosperity?
If you are going to try to go to war, or to prepare for war, in a capitalist country, you read more
If you are going to try to go to war, or to prepare for war, in a capitalist country, you have got to let business make money out of the process or business won't work. •Henry Lewis Stimson War is like love, it always finds a way.
The inevitableness, the idealism, and the blessing of war, as an
indispensable and stimulating law of development, must be read more
The inevitableness, the idealism, and the blessing of war, as an
indispensable and stimulating law of development, must be
repeatedly emphasized.
I don't know whether war is an interlude during peace, or peace is an interlude during war.
I don't know whether war is an interlude during peace, or peace is an interlude during war.
