Summary Of The American People In World War 2 By David Kennedy

The book ‘The American People in World War II’ by David M. Kennedy tells the story of World War II from the build up to America joining the war in September 1938 to the end and downfall of the war in 1950. The book talks not just about America but as well as France, Japan, England, Germany and any other countries majorly affected by the war. The main point of the book is to tell how people lived in the war, especially Americans. Kennedy explains his main idea by explaining three main topics in the war. Jobs, money, and treatment. Kennedy explains jobs in the war for the military, women, and African Americans. In chapter one he starts by talking about how “Unemployment had shrunk by the end of 1940 to 14.6 percent.” (P. 39, Kennedy) On page 219, Kennedy talks about how many new jobs had come to be in present war America. Stating that 3.25 million people looking for a job had found one and 7.3 million workers found a full time job when they otherwise would have not. And in chapter eight he goes into detail about African American workers and how “ almost nine out of ten black families eked out a living in incomes below the federal poverty threshold” (P. 340, Kennedy) Aswell as explains how women took over more jobs in World War II to provide for families.

The inflation, change of prices, and how much war cost in the 1940’s. Kennedy starts to explain how farm prices had raised 50 percent and the inflation rate had also risen 28 percent. Then a few sentences later he talks about how wages had risen 65 percent and how workers had enjoyed 27 percent more of their income. Next in chapter five, ‘The War of Machines’, Kennedy talks again about wages and inflation in the work field. He explains how spending had changed during the war in chapter five. Using the example of, “War spending skyrocket from $3.6 billion in 1940… to a peak of $93.4 billion in 1944.” (P.221,