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Book Details:
Invisible Heroes of World War II by Jerry Borrowman
Release date: May 7, 2019
Publisher: Shadow Mountain
Page Numbers: 208
Synopsis:
Invisible Heroes of World War II, documents ten fascinating true stories of a diverse group of soldiers and noncombatants from all over the world, including African Americans, women, and Native Americans, who fought with the Allies during World War II. These heroes made significant contributions in the war effort, and sometimes gave their lives for freedom and liberty, often without much recognition or fanfare. Some were frontline soldiers who were captured by the enemy and endured horrific conditions as POWs, others were ordinary citizens who fought in the French Resistance and provided vital operations to undermine Nazi occupation, while others were engineers, workers in industry, or war correspondents and photographers. All served with valor and distinction as part of the massive Allied forces who fought to free the world from tyranny and oppression.
Review:
War Non-Fiction books are my husband’s favorite, but it’s not a genre I usually read myself (with notable exceptions like Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, which is one of my favorite books). However, my interest was piqued in this one, because it focuses on the people and stories we don’t often hear about–including women and people of color. I love the idea of capturing the stories of all the ‘invisible’ heroes.
This is a ‘light’ non-fiction read with only 200 pages in length, very readable language, and a format broken into small sections. If you’re a frequent non-fiction reader looking for a dense text this probably wouldn’t be the best choice for you, but if you’re looking for a relatively easy non-fiction or something you can easily read just pieces at a time, this book is perfect for that.
I personally found the sections about specific women and the Navajo Code Talkers the most interesting. I grew up learning about the Navajo Code Talkers, but it had been a while since I read about them. And I had never learned anything about the women whose stories were told. It always amazes me how many people’s efforts contributed to the war, and how many of them went ignored and unappreciated for so long.
