Home Front: North Carolina During World War II by Julian M. Pleasants (review)

Home Front: North Carolina During World War II is a general history that places North Carolina in the larger framework of how World War II transformed the United States. Julian M. Pleasants argues that the war was "beneficial to the Rip Van Winkle state," dramatically setting it on a path from its agrarian roots to "a more modern, diversified, and highly industrialized state" (pp. 11, 305).

Pleasants acknowledges that his analysis relies on previous studies, and indeed, his contribution lies in his ability to synthesize the existing and extensive literature on North Carolina's participation, to contextualize the larger U.S. war effort, and to feature relevant firsthand accounts. In general, the book identifies national trends and links them to the Tar Heel State via somewhat discrete and often disconnected chapters.

Chapter 1 outlines the move to the European war and to Pearl Harbor, suggesting that North Carolinians stood ready to sacrifice personally for their country. In chapter 2 Pleasants explains the Selective Service Act of 1940, highlighting North Carolina's "dramatic number of rejections" due to health and education issues (p. 52). The U.S. military rejected recruits from the Tar Heel State at a higher rate than any other state. Perhaps the highlight of the chapter is a brief overview of issues surrounding conscientious objector status.

In common with other U.S. locales that accommodated training facilities during the war, North Carolina experienced economic revival and social challenges associated with the more than one hundred military installations that were located in the Tar Heel State. In chapter 3 Pleasants enumerates the major training facilities in North Carolina, indicating that while host communities gratefully accepted economic improvements, they also experienced the challenges of various social interruptions. Chapter 4 carries forward the theme of economic impact with attention to civilian workers.

Chapter 5 offers a glimpse into one particular aspect of North Carolina's experience during the war: coastal defense. While the summary of German U-boat activity includes some personal memories of barrier islands residents, the majority of the chapter concentrates on specific encounters in American waters.

Chapter 6 (on public support) and chapter 7 (on education) report on the ways a mobilized society responded to the demands of war. These two chapters include interesting vignettes, but overall they suffer from the lack of a unifying argument that might move the narrative beyond mere reportage to tie the disparate topical strands together.

In chapter 8 Pleasants succeeds in expanding the existing historiographical analysis of prisoners of war in North Carolina by analyzing editorials and newspaper reports primarily from the Raleigh News and Observer. Pleasants concludes that while some locals were bitter about the adherence to the Geneva Convention for prisoners, most showed "extraordinary tolerance" for the German and Italian enemies in their midst (p. 232).

Chapter 9 (on race) and chapter 10 (on gender) summarize published analyses relating to North Carolina's race and gender issues within the larger construct of the war as a turning point for civil rights and equality. Chapter 11 leaves the home front, covering the war experiences of a select number of Tar Heel war heroes.

Pleasants presents an expansive contextualization of World War II while punctuating separate topics with what this reviewer finds were too few unpublished firsthand accounts. While Pleasants does not break new ground as a whole, the compilation should be of interest to students of North Carolina history and libraries seeking to increase their World War II holdings. The bibliography provides a thorough accounting of studies related to North Carolina during World War II as well as substantial oral history resources.