John Steinbeck, Bombs Away: The Story of a Bomber Team

Michael J. Meyer (DePaul University)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.4: American (US) Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary, 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Sofia Ahlberg (Uppsala University), Patrick Chura (University of Akron), Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Dale Enggass (University of Utah), Christopher Hugh Gair (University of Glasgow), Matthew Hofer (University of New Mexico), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University), Kerry Myler (Birmingham Newman University), Justin Parks (UiT - The Arctic University of Norway), Nick Selby (University of East Anglia)

Domains

Journalism

Dates

First circulation or publication 1942

Places

United States (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Propaganda

Resources

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Bombs Away: The Story of a Bomber Team

is an unabashed piece of wartime propaganda that follows a group of cadets from their recruitment into their respective technical schools and then on to their eventual union as members of a bomber squad. Written by Steinbeck in 1942 as a response to his patriotic war duty, the book's genesis came about after the author was appointed a special consultant to the Secretary of War and assigned to Army Air Force Headquarters. Steinbeck, no stranger to the military, had previously served as a consultant to the Office of the Coordinator of Information (now the CIA) and also as a foreign news editor for the Office of War Information, an agency established by Franklin Delano Roosevelt to countermand Nazi propaganda. Recruited by General Henry A “Hap”…

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1206 words

Citation: Meyer, Michael J.. "Bombs Away: The Story of a Bomber Team". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 01 April 2010 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=6268, accessed 25 November 2024.]