Students who have not served in the armed forces tend to have a view of war that is largely shaped by television and the movies. Students who are veterans will rarely have had anything more than a ground's-eye view of war. Lectures on several themes of World War II may develop a needed additional dimension. First, the overall strategy of the war will help students understand its major elements. What was Hitler's plan for European conquest? The Japanese imperial design? What was the Allied response in Africa, Italy, and the Pacific? A second theme appropriate for lecture, in addition to war as strategy, is war as diplomacy. The diplomatic relationship among the members of the Axis powers is a subject for another course, but the diplomatic relationship among the Allies--the United States, Great Britain, the Soviet Union, China, and France--is of the first importance here. The ultimate disintegration of the grand alliance is a key to understanding the Cold War. A third, smaller, theme is war as spying and deception. A consideration of behind-the-scenes activities by the spies of the Western Allies will provide a dose of reality. See especially three general works: Martha Byrd Hoyle, A World in Flames: The History of World War II (1970); Gordon Wright, The Ordeal of Total War, 1939-1945 (1968); and William O'Neill, A Democracy at War: America's Fight at Home and Abroad in World War II (1993). For diplomacy see Herbert Feis, Churchill, Roosevelt, Stalin: The War They Waged and the Peace They Sought (1967), and Keith Sainsbury, Churchill and Roosevelt at War (1994). And see Richard Harris Smith, OSS: The Secret History of America's First Central Intelligence Agency (1972), and appropriate sections of Jeffrey T. Richelson, A Century of Spies: Intelligence in the Twentieth Century (1995).

There is also the war on the home front. The instructor can choose among many possible themes. One is the fear of subversion, looking at public reaction to the German-American Bund and to the internment of the Nisei. Another possible theme is the effort to increase war production, the work of the cost-plus men, the story of the Liberty ships, the problem of inflation. Still another possible theme is the large numbers of women and racial minorities who went into jobs formerly held by white males. These workers had a new opportunity, but they were often faced with racial friction and when the war ended, many of them gave up their jobs. The chapter bibliography provides excellent suggestions for sources under "American Society."

As an addendum to a lecture on the general strategy of the war, it may be useful to provide a dramatic description of a campaign or a battle. Instructors will have their own preferences. The Coral Sea and Midway, for example, offer the opportunity to consider naval warfare and aircraft carriers. See Samuel Eliot Morison, The Two Ocean War: A Short History of the United States Navy in the Second World War (1963) and Nathan Miller, War at Sea: A Naval History of World War II (1995); Gordon W. Prange et al., Miracle at Midway (1983); or Walter Lord, Incredible Victory: The Battle of Midway (1967). Monte Cassino permits recognition of the often-underemphasized Italian campaign. See David Hapgood and David Richardson, Monte Cassino (1984). D-Day was one of the momentous events of the war. See Cornelius Ryan, The Longest Day (1959), and Stephen E. Ambrose, D-Day, June 6, 1944: The Climactic Battle of World War II (1994). Other sources to consider are Gregory J. W. Urwin, Facing Fearful Odds: The Siege of Wake Island (1997), and Trevor N. Dupuy et al., Hitler's Last Gamble: The Battle of the Bulge, December 1944-January 1945 (1994).

The atomic bomb changed the world. The story of the Manhattan Project and the decision to use the bomb deserves close attention. The chapter bibliography provides an excellent group of references. Consider also Truman's own statement in the first volume of his memoirs, Year of Decisions (1955).