Continuing with the questions: If you were doing a semester on WWI and WWII...

[elegantlion]

...what would be on your must cover list? history books, literature, biographies, movies, Great Course lectures etc. I've looked at Beautiful Feet's world history list, are the Marrin books good? I remember watching every movie every made about WW II in high school. Ds is also very interested in studying from the German/Japanese perspective.

[regentrude]

On top of my hat, this is what comes to mind:

 

All Quiet on the Western Front.

Boell: Wanderer kommst du nach Spa http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stranger,_Bear_Word_to_the_Spartans_We%E2%80%A6 very famous German short story

 

 

films: Schindler's List

Jacob the Liar

The Pianist

Sophie Scholl- the last days

The last train

Dresden

Stalingrad

[Tullia]

We watched the TC series on WWII by Thomas Childers and loved it. The subtitle is something like "a military and social history." Childers' presentation is enthusiastic but fairly low key. In one of the last lectures, though, he delivers a couple of lines from a popular song, including a "raspberry" which was considered a bit over the top for that time. As I recall, that line just popped up with no warning--ds and I truly did almost fall out of our chairs. I'd always compartmentalized my understanding of WWII and Childers does a fine job of outlining the big picture.

[Pamela in VA]

We enjoyed the Marrin books. They gave hauntingly good insights into each of these evil men and also covered the events leading up to, including, and after both WWI and WWII.

 

I would also suggest reading Diary of Anne Frank for that viewpoint. Similarly, Life is Beautiful is a wonderful movie.

 

Hope this helps,

Pamela F.

[J-rap]

That was the period we enjoyed studying the most, partly because there is so, so much out there, and also because WWII is recent enough that there are still people living now who were part of it. I think it's great that your son is interested in studying different perspectives as well. We watched/read most of the movies/books mentioned above. I'd also recommend a biography on Churchill, books or movies that cover the Siege of Leningrad, and even the Band of Brothers series. They all give glimpses of the different aspects of the war.

 

I'm trying to think of the name of a documentary that my son found particularly interesting... I'll try and find it and then I'll add it here.

 

**********

 

After doing a little research, I see that it was a PBS NOVA documentary about the Colditz Glider. It is the story about American and British soldiers (or maybe just one or the other, I can't remember) who built -- in secret -- a glider plane while prisoners in a German camp, in order to escape.

 

This is a site within the NOVA website that talks a little about it:

 

http://www.pbs.org/w...son/glider.html

 

It looks like the name of the actual documentary was "Nazi Prison Escape." I cannot see where you can get a copy of the video, but here is a 3-part YouTube series on it which MIGHT be the same thing, I'm not quite sure:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBjTmqbNSC0

 

During the story of building the glider, they would have little interviews with the actual soldiers (old men, now) who were part of the project/escape plan. Because the prisoners were freed a couple days before the planned escape, they never had the chance to fly the glider. So, the second half of the documentary was about building the glider again, in present day, in exactly the same way -- same strange materials (even porridge, for glue!) -- to see if it really would have worked. And, I won't tell you what happened... :)

 

Anyway, I'd recommend it. It was a fascinating video!

 

--Oops, I didn't mean for the whole video to pop up here.. Oh well! That's just Part 1 though. You'll need to go to YouTube for the remaining parts.

[regentrude]

Oh, and Ken Burns has a series of documentaries called The War. DS watched them for history this semester.

[Tullia]

Another thought...I have totally forgotten the titles, but there were lots of books on the intelligence aspect of the war published in, I think, the 1980's after one of the milestones of official secrets act in the U.K. was reached. I remember reading several about the development of radar, the code breakers who worked on the Enigma Cipher, and the spy known as The Druid.

[elegantlion]

Thank you all. We're reading The Iliad and ds has been wanting to study about the world wars for a while. He asked me when we were going to get to wars with guns instead of spears.

 

Adding to my question, this is a heavy subject, are there any lighter books, subjects of the period to explore? I think the code breakers would be a good start on that aspect.

 

Also are there any sources the compare/contrast the topic of honor (kleos) in the ancient soldier vs the modern soldier? (We've been listening to Elizabeth Vandiver :D)

[Sebastian (a lady)]

Thank you all. We're reading The Iliad and ds has been wanting to study about the world wars for a while. He asked me when we were going to get to wars with guns instead of spears.

 

Adding to my question, this is a heavy subject, are there any lighter books, subjects of the period to explore? I think the code breakers would be a good start on that aspect.

 

Also are there any sources the compare/contrast the topic of honor (kleos) in the ancient soldier vs the modern soldier? (We've been listening to Elizabeth Vandiver :D)

You might try Ripples of Battle by Victor Davis Hanson.

Eta Hanson is a classicist and a historian. Ripples looks at battles from Ancient Greece, the Civil War and WW2 Pacific in one volume. I like Hanson a lot and this is a favorite.

[Mommyfaithe]

My kids LOVE Marrin!!!!

We have a set they return to on their own repeatedly.

 

That said, the Beautiful Feet guide for that time period was the only one I found that I liked.....and we could work with. Great book suggestions....Veritas Press was too deep and left my son depressed for months....never again!!! mein Kamph can wait until college!!!!!

 

 

[shawthorne44]

For Europe, you wouldn't go wrong reading nothing but Stephen Ambrose. Don't be fooled by the fact that his books were NYT best sellers. His books are both meaty and interesting. It has been awhile since I read one of his (He died about 10 years ago). But I remember the last one I read had perspectives on both sides. His son had contacts to get the perspective from the other side, and did the leg work. Small things like each side was jealous of the other's provisions. We had chocolate and Spam and they had dairy and wine. Soldiers so miserable in the trenches that they wanted to be taken prisoner, and when two groups on patrol would meet they would negotiate over which group got to be taken prisoner. Since they are bestsellers, they are probably all available on Unabridged CD or tapes.

[Photo Ninja]

I think we spend a semester on WWII alone, my sons were so interested.

 

For something lighter, but interesting and enlightening, try listening to some old radio shows from the period. They illustrate what life was like in the US during the war. The commercials are well worth listening to.

 

One cd set I highly recommend is Words and Music of World War II. www.amazon.com/Words-Music-World-War-II/dp/B000008MGK It is easy to listen to and tells the history of the war in Europe through music of the era, speeches and news reports. It is original sources, which I like using. It talks about the popular songs, why they were written and what they referred to. History through music, but incorporates news broadcasts as well. It is captivating to listen to, and truly gives an excellent overview of political and social aspects of life. I think the track that was the most impacting to me and one ds was "Ed Murrow Broadcasts His Experiences On A Bomb Raid Over Berlin/Comin' On A Wing And A Prayer". We listened to it many times. A reporter was riding along on a bombing run over Berlin, writing his experience to submit. I won't spoil it by saying what happened, but it was very impacting and gave a human side to bombing raids that are just mentioned factually in most books.

 

My dc really enjoyed the old radio shows, and liked them even more as they gained understanding of political and social aspects of life during those years. Here is one site where I bought a lot of shows in mp3 format: www.otrcat.com/wwii-c-121.html?osCsid=2iesgqoom8p184ptgaltapsqq7 They are very inexpensive for what you get, and are entertaining as well as educational. I consider old radio shows to be like a source text because they were written by and for people living during that time period, so we get a very real glimpse into their lives once you look past the surface plot of the story.

 

We listened to speeches made by leading political figures from different countries, as well as news reports. We also listened to comedy shows, like Burns and Allen, Great Gildersleeve, Jack Benny, Bob Hope, and others. They often had themes of victory gardens, dealing with rationing and shortages, war bonds, etc. The only way to really understand Jack Benny and Bob Hope's monologues and jokes during the WWII years is to understand the current events of the day. The commercials illustrated dealing with shortages, substitutions, sacrifice, and also used propaganda. They are as enlightening as the shows themselves.

 

One ds listened to Superman radio shows, and I think one series was Superman vs Atom Man. Ds bought a book about the series and learned that the US government actually did not allow some of the episodes to be broadcast because they spoke of a large weapon/bomb. While the atom bomb had not been used or admitted to developing it yet, the government considered it to be a possible information leak if the shows were broadcast, so those episodes were put on hold. We like interesting facts like this.

 

My sons loved the Marrin books, so be sure to include those.

[swimmermom3]

Night by Elie Wiesel

 

Central themes of the effect of silence, maintaining faith, and retaining one's human dignity

 

View movie, One Survivor Remembers

 

There are numerous lesson plans on line for both resources. My dd had the privilege of listening to Mr. Wiesel speak at her school and was very impressed.

 

For yourself, I think you would like Victor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning and Wine and War.

 

You may choose to share significant portions with your son. I re-read Frankl's remarkable book every few years. Wine and War is kind of an odd tie-in, but the history is very good and gives a different perspective than many textbooks. The remarkable part is the joint effort across both sides to save some of the great French wines and their cellars. You don't have to be a wine lover to appreciate what happens. It's a professional respect much like the aviation aces who were arch rivals during the war and good friends after.

[elegantlion]

These are all great, thank you. I also remembered we could listen to Orson Welle's War of the Worlds.

[Candid]

On movies, I'd see if I could find some movies made during the war. You might also look at best seller list for books during the war and read one or two of those. Try to get into their minds instead of what our minds think they thought.

 

Churchill's series on the war is supposed to be good.

[Susan of Croton]

We enjoyed the World at War, a 26 hour documentary by the early 70's BBC which includes eyewitness interviews of WWII and lots of footage. If you wanted to focus on Japanese perspective, several episodes break this out. It is the best documentary ever put together; not heavy-handed, quite graphic. Narrated by Olivier.

[KarenNC]

If you have access to the Young Indiana Jones dvds, vol. 2 is set during WWI. The dvds have hours of additional documentary material on the time period. This website http://www.indyinthe...ndex.asp?indy=7 has episode guides, links to current events related to the topics, info on the documentaries, etc.

 

Netflix has a number of videos related to various topics for WWII, but not so many on WWI. There's at least one on the Japanese internment camps in the US. This article mentions a few movies http://usatoday30.us...jima-side_x.htm from the Japanese perspective. I've seen an animated version of The Burmese Harp, which was very interesting.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

If you have access to the Young Indiana Jones dvds, vol. 2 is set during WWI. The dvds have hours of additional documentary material on the time period. This website http://www.indyinthe...ndex.asp?indy=7 has episode guides, links to current events related to the topics, info on the documentaries, etc.

 

Netflix has a number of videos related to various topics for WWII, but not so many on WWI. There's at least one on the Japanese internment camps in the US. This article mentions a few movies http://usatoday30.us...jima-side_x.htm from the Japanese perspective. I've seen an animated version of The Burmese Harp, which was very interesting.

Beneath Hill 60 is a very good WW1 movie. The Lighthorsemen is also very good but only available in clips on YouTube.

Other WW1 movies that we've enjoyed and shown the kids are The Red Baron and Flyboys. We'll be showing them The Lost Battalion this spring.

 

Joyeux Noel is pretty good. All Quiet on the Western Front (black and white version) was filmed using war vets. I'm not fond of A Long Engagement.

[shawthorne44]

The biography "American Caesar" was excellent. Long but totally worth it.

[KarenNC]

Adding to my question, this is a heavy subject, are there any lighter books, subjects of the period to explore? I think the code breakers would be a good start on that aspect.

 

 

I've been looking at material for us when we cover this period next year. Netflix has videos on the Navajo code talkers (the Nicholas Cage movie as well as a documentary), Top Secret Rosies (women who acted as "computers" for the intelligence agencies), Frank Capra's Why We Fight series (US propaganda movies made during WWII), 1940s House (a family recreates living in London during WWII---very interesting), and Animated Classics of Japanese Lit: the Harp of Burma (this is the animated version I mentioned). The only ones I've actually seen are the last two. You could look at music of the period, perhaps, victory gardens (there's a BBC series called Wartime Farm http://www.bbc.co.uk...rammes/b01mmt8t, some episodes are on Youtube), or look at rationing and the types of recipes people came up with to deal with shortages ( http://recipecurio.c.../recipes-today/ is one website). You could compare the types of shortages in the US with those in England, perhaps.

 

I remember watching a BBC series on Netflix streaming about women sent to work on a farm during WWII (Land Girls). There was also one set on the Channel Islands during WWII that was streaming (Island at War). Downton Abbey has part set during WWI.

[KarenNC]

Another option for looking at the effects on Japanese people after the bombing is Grave of the Fireflies--- http://ncta.osu.edu/lessons/japan/history/nickelS-jpn.pdf has a lesson plan for it.