Wartime Diary

Written from September 1939 to January 1941, Simone de Beauvoir’s Wartime Diary gives English readers unabridged access to one of the scandalous texts that threaten to overturn traditional views of Beauvoir’s life and work. Beauvoir’s account of her clandestine affair with Jacques Bost and sexual relationships with various young women challenges the conventional picture of Beauvoir as the devoted companion of Jean-Paul Sartre, just as her account of completing her novel She Came to Stay at a time when Sartre’s philosophy in Being and Nothingness was barely begun calls into question the traditional view of Beauvoir’s novel as merely illustrating Sartre’s philosophy. Most important, the Wartime Diary provides an exciting account of Beauvoir’s philosophical transformation from the prewar solipsism of She Came to Stay to the postwar political engagement of The Second Sex. This edition also features previously unpublished material, including her musings about consciousness and order, recommended reading lists, and notes on labor unions. In providing new insights into Beauvoir’s philosophical development, the Wartime Diary promises to rewrite a crucial chapter of Western philosophy and intellectual history.

Nineteen-year-old Thura al-Windawi traces the days leading up to the bombings in Iraq, the war, and the chaos that followed, describing her life and the reality of war for Iraqi families.

Chronicles the wartime experiences of Georges Vanier, who was Governor General of Canada from 1959 to 1967 and who served four years in the First World War.

From the creators of The Assassin's Cloak comes an anthology of powerful and sometimes surprising daily wartime diary entries from war fronts throughout history. The War Diaries brings together--in their own words--the stories of men and women who have endured life at its most intense and dangerous. By turns horrific and comic, the entries retain the candid intimacy that is the particular preserve of those who keep diaries. From Che Guevara, Virginia Woolf, and Davy Crockett to anonymous soldiers in the trenches, these poignant and intense missives capture the immediacy, horror, and pathos of wars that span the centuries. With a remarkable cross-section of contributors--Josef Goebbels, Anaïs Nin, Florence Nightingale, Samuel Pepys, and Salam Pax to name just a few--Irene and Alan Taylor bring unprecedented insight into what has been described as "the most exciting and dramatic thing in life" and "the universal perversion" war. This book is a unique gift for history enthusiasts everywhere.

The diary of a nurse who served with the Canadian Army Medical Corps in France during the First World War.

The fall of Singapore and the brilliant victories achieved since the start of the war mean we are protected, but I don’t know just how grateful I should be. —Takahashi Aiko, housewife, February 1942 This is my final departure from the home islands. I have paid my respects to those who have helped me. I have no regrets. —Itabashi Yasuo, navy kamikaze pilot, February 1944 We had rice gruel for lunch again. There was no tofu in it, but there were potatoes.... We went through with the closing ceremony and received our report cards. Everyone was there. From now on, I’ll persevere and not fail. —Manabe Ichiro, primary school student, July 1944 This collection of diaries gives readers a powerful, firsthand look at the effects of the Pacific War on eight ordinary Japanese. Immediate, vivid, and at times surprisingly frank, the diaries chronicle the last years of the war and its aftermath as experienced by a navy kamikaze pilot, an army straggler on Okinawa, an elderly Kyoto businessman, a Tokyo housewife, a young working woman in Tokyo, a teenage girl mobilized for war work, and two schoolchildren evacuated to the countryside. Samuel Yamashita’s introduction provides a helpful overview of the historiography on wartime Japan and offers valuable insights into the important, everyday issues that concerned Japanese during a different and disastrously difficult time.

This unique record offers a woman's perspective on World War II and details the impact of the war on life in rural England.