Civil War Fathers: Sons of the Civil War in World War II

Civil War Fathers is the story of eight American families whose fathers fought in the Civil War and whose sons and daughters fought in World War II. It evolved from an interview project involving middle school children in Peoria Illinois into an amazing book encompassing almost 100 years of American history in two generations. Based on interviews with the surviving WWII veterans this absorbing book views the Civil War through the eyes of children listening to their fathers stories and World War II through the eyes of the same children as grown up participants. The primary focus of the book however is the broad span of social cultural and economic change that swept the country over nine decades. The eight families profiled in Civil War Fathers are as diverse as would be expected from any group of eight randomly selected American families yet their stories all share similar themes and values. For the Civil War generation reasons for joining the Union forces and duties performed during the war cover the full span of thought and warfare for the period. For the World War II generation their participation covered even wider areas of involvement reflecting the technological and societal changes in warfare. Their reasons for joining the war while more consistent than their Civil War fathers were quite varied as well. For all those interviewed the one constant was that their early lives were full of challenges and change. The technological innovations in the early twentieth century seemed to arrive nonstop but throughout it all family and community remained at the center of their lives. As farmland gave way to cities and hard outdoor labor yielded to factory and office jobs these families evolved and remained a vibrant part of the American culture.