As I've said before, I think the whole thing is a great corrective to the prevailing popular nostrums. I learned a lot myself. Truman, what a little shit! Louis makes me want to read the book. I am a little skeptical, though, of the degree of adulation afforded Roosevelt and Wallace. They were after all part of the ruling class.
I've liked Wallace for a long time. Years ago I read his diary. I was impressed by the fact that he was talking about how the U.S. would sort everything out after the war, even though the Western Front had yet to be opened. A little presumptuous.
On Fri, Nov 30, 2012 at 8:22 PM, shag carpet bomb <shag at cleandraws.com>wrote:
> It's pretty good. Lots of stuff I didn't know about Henry Wallace and the
> wild support for him as Roosevelt's VP. Truman comes off as a total idiot.
> Big focus is on how the Soviets won the war, how we've mythologized use of
> the bomb to win the war but it was, in fact, Japan's fear of the Russians
> that made them raise the white flag.
>
>
> At 03:22 PM 11/30/2012, Chuck Grimes wrote:
>
> It took me awhile to find it but here is the first episode of Stone's
>> Untold History.
>>
>> http://digbysblog.blogspot.**com.br/2012/11/atomic-history-**
>> what-your-teachers-didnt.html<http://digbysblog.blogspot.com.br/2012/11/atomic-history-what-your-teachers-didnt.html>
>>
>> It covers from Japan's very early invasion of Manchuria to the Battle of
>> Stalingrad in one hour. That's a lot of territory with a lot of background
>> history that is skipped. It's only been in the last decade or so, I've
>> tried to fill in blanks including a two volumn set on just the German
>> Eastern Front.
>>
>> So there is plenty to pick at but it's not worth the detail. And Stone is
>> not covering anything that wasn't known provided you changed focus from a
>> direct US WWII movie script, and opened your mind to the Chinese and
>> Russians. Stone will probably not get into the all the complications of the
>> US-UK struggles with the Chinese Nationalists and marginalizing the
>> Communists.
>>
>> In my remembered school histories the Russians and especially the Chinese
>> are merely blank spots. There were a few mentions of southern China, Burma,
>> and very distant US airfields. As for Russia I had no idea at all of the
>> relative numbers. Stone uses the figure of 27 million Russian dead. These
>> are tremendous numbers I only came across sometime in 1990s.
>>
>> I am trying to remember how the disappearence of Russia and China was
>> accomplished. Probably maps. They both cover so much land area that the
>> maps and illustrations simply left off the edge. In the Pacific that's
>> pretty easy. A focus on Europe and the Mediterranean neatly obscures the
>> Russian front until the very end. If the US public seems to be at the
>> bottom of the charts on knowledge of history, the runner up has to be
>> geography.
>>
>> Stone also concentrates on the internal conflicts between the US and
>> British, FDR and Churchill which is usually left out until recently. On the
>> downside, Stone uses a lot of war propaganda film which we've all seen for
>> decades. The effect is nothing that is visually unknown or not already
>> imprinted.
>>
>> It seems to me the more important question is to wonder at the uniformly
>> reactionary reviews and responses. What is this really about? Maybe that
>> will become clearer in later episodes.
>>
>> As far as I can tell the reaction is coming from a string of
>> neoconservative writers and all the usual sources that backed up Bush,
>> Obama, and so on. I still haven't answered what is their trip? Yeah paid
>> for propaganda for the US Incorporated.
>>
>> CG
>> ______________________________**_____
>> http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/**mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk<http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk>
>>
>
> --
> http://cleandraws.com
> Wear Clean Draws
> ('coz there's 5 million ways to kill a CEO)
>
> ______________________________**_____
> http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/**mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk<http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk>
>