Miss You
The World War II Letters of Barbara Wooddall Taylor and Charles E. Taylor
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
Experience World War II from the perspective of a married couple in this collection of letters exchanged between an American serviceman and his wife.
During World War II, the millions of letters American servicemen exchanged with their wives and sweethearts were a lifeline, a vital way of sustaining morale on both fronts. Intimate and poignant, Miss You offers a rich selection from the correspondence of one such couple, revealing their longings, affection, hopes, and fears and affording a privileged look at how ordinary people lived through the upheavals of the last century’s greatest conflict.
“In Fairburn, Georgia, when I was growing up, everyone knew them simply as “CharlieandBarbara,” one word―for they seemed almost uncannily close, a single unit of harmony, two parts of a whole. Now everyone who reads this extraordinary document of love in a time of war will feel the power of that closeness. Miss You is the quintessential American chronicle…. Read and cherish it―there are none of us who wouldn’t have chosen for ourselves such a love as this.”—Anne Rivers Siddons, New York Times–bestselling author of Peachtree Road
“A volume that offers extraordinary insight into the daily experiences of Americans at war.”—Georgia Historical Quarterly
“Their great love―the connecting theme of this wonderful book―is something so rare it is both beautiful and ennobling.”—Atlanta Journal-Constitution
“It is the insight gained by reading these letters that make this book exceptional…. By the book’s close, the reader has gained an intimate and truthful understanding of wartime psyche and feels deeply how crucial these letters were to those they were comforting.”—Hannah M. Jocelyn, Southern Historian
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Barbara Wooddall, 18, and 21-year-old Charles Taylor, Southerners, met on a blind date in 1941, and because he was a private in the Army they had to conduct their courtship mostly by mail. Married in '42, they became parents the following year. Charles served in Europe as an infantry lieutenant, was twice wounded and earned a battlefield promotion. This selection of their wartime letters preserves both sides of a timeless battle-front/home-front story, chronicling the difficulties and stresses created by the war on both partners. Barbara's letters to the battle front survived because Charles scribbled most of his answers on the back of her letters. The Taylors, now retired and living in Florida, were ``ordinary'' people, like countless other couples separated by war. Their correspondence will touch the hearts of readers. Litoff teaches history at Bryant College in Rhode Island; Smith teaches history at the University of Maine. Illustrations.
