Fifty-four forty, or fight.

Fifty-four forty, or fight.

Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those read more

Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.

Waging war we understand, but not waging peace, or at any rate less consciously so.

Waging war we understand, but not waging peace, or at any rate less consciously so.

All quiet along the Potomac they say
Except now and then a stray picket
Is shot as read more

All quiet along the Potomac they say
Except now and then a stray picket
Is shot as he walks on his beat, to and fro,
By a rifleman hid in the thicket.

Let who will boast their courage in the field,
I find but little safety from my shield,
read more

Let who will boast their courage in the field,
I find but little safety from my shield,
Nature's, not honour's law we must obey:
This made me cast my useless shield away.

'What war?' said the Prime Minister sharply. 'No one has said anything to me about a war. I really think read more

'What war?' said the Prime Minister sharply. 'No one has said anything to me about a war. I really think I should have been told. I'll be damned,' he said defiantly, 'if they shall have a war without consulting me. What's a cabinet for, if there's not more mutual confidence than that? What do they want a war for anyway?'

If war is ever lawful, then peace is sometimes sinful

If war is ever lawful, then peace is sometimes sinful

War paralyzes your courage and deadens the spirit of true manhood.

War paralyzes your courage and deadens the spirit of true manhood.

The history of those who shed those other tears, the history of those anonymous millions, is what Terkel wants readers read more

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.