US History: WWII part 1

Despite the lack of blogging, we have been sailing along in high tide on World War II!

We actually started back during our visit to Mumpy and Pa, quizzing Pa about his experiences during the war (he was a little kid, but even little kids knew about blackout drills, rationing, and how to identify enemy planes!).

We have found an embarrassment of riches when it comes to resources.  We have been using a number of excellent books including World War II for Kids (which I have found more useful for it's primary sources - letters and interviews - than for the activities), Woeful Second World War (one of the irresistible Horrible Histories series), and several of the Dover coloring books (especially Color Your Own Patriotic Posters, and Story of World War II).

We also stumbled upon the series Why We Fight, propaganda reels made during the war.  On the plus side, the series is a gripping narrative about the events leading up to America's entrance into the war - they were done by Frank Capra with actual war footage from both sides!  Also, since they were made while the war was going on, there is a lot of suspense...

On the negative, it's propaganda - very one sided, down to the use of racial epithets.  For us, that was more to talk about - why do people at war need to make the other side less than human? 

We also looked at part of Hitler's propaganda film Triumph of the Will.  Scary stuff, and a good answer to the question, "Why did people follow Hitler?"

Here's the first episode of Why We Fight: