In 1941: Fighting the Shadow War, A Divided America in a World at War,
historian Marc Wortman thrillingly explores the little-known history of
America's clandestine involvement in World War II before the attack on
Pearl Harbor.
Prior to that infamous day, America had long been involved in a shadow
war. Winston Churchill, England's beleaguered new Prime Minister,
pleaded with Franklin D. Roosevelt for help. FDR concocted ingenious
ways to come to his aid, without breaking the Neutrality Acts. Launching
Lend-Lease, conducting espionage at home and in South America to root
out Nazi sympathizers, and waging undeclared war in the Atlantic, were
just some of the tactics with which FDR battled Hitler in the shadows.
FDR also had to contend with growing isolationism and anti-Semitism as
he tried to influence public opinion. The largest obstacle was Charles
Lindbergh and his America First Committee, with its following of
hundreds of thousands. While Americans were sympathetic to those being
crushed under Axis power, they were unwilling to enter a foreign war.
Wortman looks at this dynamic time through the eyes of the powerful as
well as ordinary citizens. The book opens with two American journalists
who witness Hitler's invasion of Poland: William Shirer is appalled by
the rise of Nazism, Philip Johnson is enthralled with Hitler. Their
stories weave throughout the intricate tapestry of events that unfold
during the crucial year of 1941.
Combining military and political history, Wortman crafts an eye-opening
account of how FDR took the country to war.
