"In The Wounded Generation, historian David Nasaw offers a powerful reexamination of post-World War II America, focusing on the unseen struggles veterans faced upon returning home. While victory was celebrated, many veterans battled undiagnosed trauma, inadequate medical care, housing shortages, and social upheaval. Drawing on personal accounts and historical records, Nasaw reveals how the war's psychological and societal aftershocks reshaped both individual lives and the nation--particularly for Black veterans who were often denied GI Bill benefits. This is a compelling portrait of a generation marked not only by heroism, but by lasting wounds." --

"From award-winning and bestselling author David Nasaw, a brilliant re-examination of post-World War II America that looks beyond the victory parades and into the veterans'--and nation's--unhealed traumas In its duration, geographical reach, and ferocity, World War II was unprecedented, and the effects on those who fought it and their loved ones at home, immeasurable. The heroism of the men and women who won the war may be well documented, but we know too little about the pain and hardships the veterans endured upon their return home. As historian David Nasaw makes evident in his masterful recontextualization of these years, the veterans who came home to America were not the same people as those who had left for war, and the nation to which they returned was not the one they had left behind. Contrary to the prevailing narratives of triumph, here are the largely unacknowledged realities that the veterans--and the nation--faced which radically reshaped our understanding of this era as a bridge to today. In The Wounded Generation, Nasaw tells the indelible stories of the veterans and their loved ones as they confronted the aftershocks of World War II. Veterans suffering from recurring nightmares, uncontrollable rages, and social isolation were treated by doctors who had little understanding of PTSD. They were told that they were suffering from nothing more than battle fatigue and that time would cure it. When their symptoms persisted, they were given electro-shock treatments and lobotomies, while the true cause of their distress would remain undiagnosed for decades to come. Women who had begun working outside the home were pressured to revert to their prewar status as housewives dependent on their husbands. Returning veterans and their families were forced to double up with their parents or squeeze into overcrowded, substandard shelters as the country wrestled with a housing crisis. Divorce rates doubled. Alcoholism was rampant. Racial tensions heightened as white southerners resorted to violence to sustain the racial status quo. To ease the veterans' readjustment to civilian life, Congress passed the GI Bill, but Nasaw reveals how black veterans were disproportionately denied their benefits, and how the consequences of this discrimination would endure long after the war was won. In this richly textured examination, Nasaw presents a complicated portrait of those who brought the war home with them, among whom were the period's most influential political and cultural leaders, including John F. Kennedy, Robert Dole, and Henry Kissinger; J. D. Salinger and Kurt Vonnegut; Harry Belafonte and Jimmy Stewart. Drawing from veterans' memoirs, oral histories, and government documents, Nasaw illuminates a hidden chapter of American history--one of trauma, resilience, and a country in transition"-- Provided by publisher.