Many regard World War II as the best war ever, but why? It seems the one fact that stands out in American minds is that the Allied Powers were fighting against people who were perceived as "evil”, such as Adolf Hitler and Emperor Hirohito. Many disregard all the casualties and hardships and only think about the big picture: victory. Michael C. C. Adams' book, The Best War Ever: America and World War II, attempts to dissipate all of the misconceptions of the Second World War. Americans came out of the war with a positive view of all the years of fighting. This myth was born from several factors, mainly due to the overseas setting of both theaters of the war, intense government propaganda, Hollywood’s glamorization, and widespread economic …show more content…

“GIs fathered tens of thousands of illegitimate children and took advantage of women’s desperate need for food, cigarettes, and even clothing to trade them for sex” (93-94). Surely such immoral behavior was not depicted in the movies and neither was the horror that led soldiers to lose all respect for human life on the battlefield, as shown by the garbage being dumped on the dead enemies. The truth behind the home front was equally distorted. Many couples married only so the husband could avoid the draft. The idea that children were better behaved when so many fathers were overseas and mothers in the production lines was quite illogical. “Fathers and elder brothers were often away at war, so important role models were lost. If the mother worked too, the stage seemed set for wildness among unsupervised children.” (124) “The war’s most serious impact on the young was through prosperity and enhanced job opportunities… created teen culture which in the end skewed the high school from a seat of learning into a social center.” (126) The complaints of the youth seem very similar to the ones heard today: “The seeming immaturity of adolescent society and its disrespect for age were also bewildering and troubling.” (127) Another fact often overlooked when thinking of that golden age was that “more girls got pregnant and the venereal disease rate rose.” (124). Racism continued to thrive in the army and in the states. Thousands of