Prairie Forge: The Extraordinary Story of the Nebraska Scrap Metal Drive of World War II
2021 One Book One Nebraska selection 2015 Nebraska Book Award in Nonfiction: Nebraska Spirit, from Nebraska Center for the Book
  In the wake of Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt called for the largest arms buildup in our nation's history. A shortage of steel, however, quickly slowed the program’s momentum, and arms production fell dangerously behind schedule. The country needed scrap metal. Henry Doorly, publisher of the Omaha World-Herald, had the solution. Prairie Forge tells the story of the great Nebraska scrap drive of 1942—a campaign that swept the nation and yielded five million tons of scrap metal, literally salvaging the war effort itself.   James J. Kimble chronicles Doorly’s conception of a fierce competition pitting county against county, business against business, and, in schools across the state, class against class—inspiring Nebraskans to gather 67,000 tons of scrap metal in only three weeks. This astounding feat provided the template for a national drive. A tale of plowshares turned into arms, Prairie Forge gives the first full account of how home became home front for so many civilians.
1117390537
Prairie Forge: The Extraordinary Story of the Nebraska Scrap Metal Drive of World War II
2021 One Book One Nebraska selection 2015 Nebraska Book Award in Nonfiction: Nebraska Spirit, from Nebraska Center for the Book
  In the wake of Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt called for the largest arms buildup in our nation's history. A shortage of steel, however, quickly slowed the program’s momentum, and arms production fell dangerously behind schedule. The country needed scrap metal. Henry Doorly, publisher of the Omaha World-Herald, had the solution. Prairie Forge tells the story of the great Nebraska scrap drive of 1942—a campaign that swept the nation and yielded five million tons of scrap metal, literally salvaging the war effort itself.   James J. Kimble chronicles Doorly’s conception of a fierce competition pitting county against county, business against business, and, in schools across the state, class against class—inspiring Nebraskans to gather 67,000 tons of scrap metal in only three weeks. This astounding feat provided the template for a national drive. A tale of plowshares turned into arms, Prairie Forge gives the first full account of how home became home front for so many civilians.
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Prairie Forge: The Extraordinary Story of the Nebraska Scrap Metal Drive of World War II

Prairie Forge: The Extraordinary Story of the Nebraska Scrap Metal Drive of World War II

by James J. Kimble
Prairie Forge: The Extraordinary Story of the Nebraska Scrap Metal Drive of World War II

Prairie Forge: The Extraordinary Story of the Nebraska Scrap Metal Drive of World War II

by James J. Kimble

eBook

$19.95 

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Overview

2021 One Book One Nebraska selection 2015 Nebraska Book Award in Nonfiction: Nebraska Spirit, from Nebraska Center for the Book
  In the wake of Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt called for the largest arms buildup in our nation's history. A shortage of steel, however, quickly slowed the program’s momentum, and arms production fell dangerously behind schedule. The country needed scrap metal. Henry Doorly, publisher of the Omaha World-Herald, had the solution. Prairie Forge tells the story of the great Nebraska scrap drive of 1942—a campaign that swept the nation and yielded five million tons of scrap metal, literally salvaging the war effort itself.   James J. Kimble chronicles Doorly’s conception of a fierce competition pitting county against county, business against business, and, in schools across the state, class against class—inspiring Nebraskans to gather 67,000 tons of scrap metal in only three weeks. This astounding feat provided the template for a national drive. A tale of plowshares turned into arms, Prairie Forge gives the first full account of how home became home front for so many civilians.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780803254169
Publisher: UNP - Bison Books
Publication date: 05/01/2014
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 256
File size: 4 MB

About the Author

James J. Kimble is an associate professor in the Department of Communication and the Arts at Seton Hall University. He is the coproducer of Scrappers: How the Heartland Won World War II, a feature documentary on the 1942 scrap drives.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations ix

Preface xi

Introduction: Home Front, Battlefront 1

1 The Scrap Deficit, or How Not to Win a War 12

2 Henry Doorly and the Nebraska Plan 32

3 Summertime Scrapping in the City 51

4 Mobilizing Greater Nebraska 77

5 The Second-Half Comeback 100

6 The Nebraska Plan Goes National 123

Epilogue: Home Front, Battlefront (Revisited) 146

Appendix: Nebraska County Scrap Results 150

Notes 163

Bibliography 199

Index 209

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