I said I wouldn’t. I said I wouldn’t. I said I wouldn’t…but I did.

I bought another book.

Since finishing grad school, I figured that I might use some of my newfound free time to brush up on my WWII history, since I know quite a bit about WACs, WOWs, and the ANC but not about the war overall.

Well, I was killing time at a bookstore the other day and decided to investigate their offerings. I had no intention of buying anything, but I figured I’d write down any titles that seemed promising and look them up later on a used book site or in a library. I told myself I didn’t need a new book, especially not right away. I was plenty busy.

But that was before I found War Stories: Remembering World War II.

I thought, “I’ll just read the foreword and first few pages of this one,” but as soon as I did I was hooked. Elizabeth Mullener is a journalist in New Orleans who spent twelve years finding and interviewing individuals who experienced the major events of WWII (such as the invasion of Poland, the Battle of the Bulge, V-E Day, Jimmy Doolittle’s Raid, and much much more). She finally compiled all the articles she’d published (53 total) into one book.

One of my favorite parts of reenactment is hearing people’s personal stories. Reading dates and statistics from a history book seems stale and dry and will never succeed in holding my attention for long…but this book made the events real and human in a way that no textbook could. I ended up buying it right then and there (a little birthday gift to myself). When I left on a trip a few days later, it took up part of the very limited space in my backpack. I didn’t have much chance to read, but I finally finished it on the last leg of the journey back home last night.

I absolutely, unreservedly recommend this book to anyone. It weighs in at 368 pages, but it’s a very easy read, especially since it’s broken up into separate “chapters” or interviews. This is what history is — stories. Real-life experiences.