wartime Reading: What Are the Trends?
Ferguson, Milton James
wartime Reading: What Are the Trends? By Milton James Ferguson Chief Librarian, Brooklyn Public Library WHAT do people read in wartime? Do they read more or let* than in normal times? Are...
...Our Music and Art Division has led all others in wartime circulation of books, and the borrowing of sheet music and phonograph records ha* increased remarkably...
...but students msy be counted upon to keep the librsry shelves stripped of this class of books...
...The Beveridge Plan...
...The drams seems to take more of a grip on the popular imagination: every new play brings people n for backgrourf<r*material on the authors or for books on the writing and marketing of plays...
...Recently the pure sciences, with chemistry in ths lead, have outstripped all rlvsls in this general field...
...In fact, the Brooklyn Public Library has recognized this trend and capered to it so far as to offer phonograph record courses in several languages, which may be studied through earphones in the library as well as outside...
...War gives extraordinary impetus to the study of languages, both for their own sake and for the reward* that may come from knowledge of them in the present and the post-war world...
...reading increases...
...Release Prom Nervous Tension), and even to occultism, astrology and such (Oracles of Nostradamus...
...War increases msrrisges and steps up the birth rate...
...As the war has advanced, interest has stesdily mounted in hooks discussing the kind of world, both material and spiritual, that is to be built after the conflict is over...
...This Is Our Land...
...Consumers' Interests...
...Ths Hapy Family...
...The perennial interest readers have In labor is sharpened by a similar stress in labor relations under a war-built economy...
...they want swiftpaced, informal, human narratives...
...Nevertheless, people have recourse to the fine srts ss a form of release from their troubles and from the too stsrk realism of a wartime world...
...Hundreds of persons, seeking help in the writing of more literate and more interesting letters to their, loved ones, employ models both modem and classical, as well as seeking ere...
...Labor Problems...
...Now World A-Comin...
...Letter Writing...
...There is a corresponding revival of interest in our own language...
...But there are certain wartime trends, distinct enough to suggest listing as follows: Nsrrstives of Fighting...
...And although the borrowing of books for home use decreases in wartime, the use of the public library for research work and for diversions...
...The adjustments made necessary by war stresses are usually accomplished, however, by the much simpler process of reading what we call "escapist" literature...
...Between Tears and Laughter), The Post-War World...
...Many individual* are stimulated by war conditions to do more reading than they would do in peacetime...
...Among youthful readers, aviation takes first place, with radio engineering second (Aerial Navigation...
...In attempts to understand and find relief for war-bred nervou* tensions, and in general to probe the mysteries of human behavior, people turn to popular psychology (On Being a Real Person...
...The everyday pressure of wartime living is too great, however, to turn readers' thoughts very far away from the press...
...People can't seem to learn enough about Churchill) Stalin, Chiang Kai-shek and his American-educated wife, all the generals and admirals, including those of the enemy, and all heroes, be they buck privates or epauletted fleet commanders...
...Psychology...
...Its books may not go out as aften, but they do more good per square foot and per capita...
...Housing Comes of Age...
...The Arts...
...Racial Preblesss...
...Books on and in German, Japanese, Russian, Chinese, Spanish and Portuguese have all been popular since the war began...
...but in general these are books that are not read much at any time...
...Their popularity stems from their exciting nature, and is enhanced when they describe actions which glorify American arms, and particularly when they record events in which friends and relatives of the readers have had a part (Guadalcanal Diary, Thirty Seconds Over Tokio, They Were Expendable, Queen of the Flat Tops, etc...
...Head Hunting in the Solomons...
...Education at the Cross-Rosds, etc...
...Its readers hsve borrowed nearly 6,000,000 books-for home use in the year just passed...
...but the vagueness in the popular mind is reflected in most books which have appeared so far...
...What are We Fighting for...
...Year of the Wild Boar...
...books in ths early months of the war, when men were preparing for new jobs in wsr industry or in the technical branches of the armed forces...
...Young people show a distinct preference for romance...
...The libraries expected, and they experienced, a tremendous upsurge of interest in technics...
...Housing, ss a community project or as a personal problem, leads in interest, snd extends to the Istest developments in hesting, air-conditioning snd household spplisnces...
...The librsry cannot get enough books and pamphlet material on post-war planning to satisfy the demands...
...It is important to know how to get along with less snd how to produce ss well ss consume...
...Burma Surgeon, etc...
...Bntksr Under the Skin...
...There are notable exceptions, however (U...
...Consumer Training, etc...
...Biographies of War Personalities Interest in the military and civilian leaders of the nations at war is continuously keen...
...Jirny people study foreign languages as a basis for acquaintance with other peoples at war...
...TraveK Books about the lands where our boys are fighting vie for popularity with books about places where people hope to travel after the war (Tunisia...
...Peacetime reading may be more or less a diversion: wartime reading is a necessity, even when it is s diversion...
...Its readers may be fewer than in peacetime, but they need reading materials as never before...
...People want earnestly to know what sort of people we are fighting against, as well as whst sort we are fighting beside...
...The Best Plays, etc...
...There is a natural human curiosity to find out how our enemies "got that way" and what we must do to get them out of that way...
...To this genersl ststement there are exceptions...
...S. Foreign Policy...
...Fiction...
...The Languages...
...What sort of books have they been reading...
...Mission to Moscow...
...but there is little interest in the history of World Wsr I or in abstract considerations of wsr as an evil to mankind...
...A secondary reason of some weight is that the tensions of wartime leaf* them in no mood to read: these tension must be relieved by means of dynamic countertensions such as the movies, sports, games and contests...
...Excuse My Dust, etc...
...They indicate clearly that what they want in this respect are books that show "how to do it" rather than those full of fine theories...
...Getting Ae...
...There are types of books people shy away from in wartime—morbid or depressing books, ponderous philosophy, erudite criticism, and the like...
...Our Allies snd Our Enemies...
...The type of fiction most popular at these times is therefore the suspenseful mystery and detective brand...
...In general, it may be said that msny read much lese in wartime, as decreased circulation of books throughout the country testifies...
...The Consumer Goes to War...
...This holds for books on interior decorating, let's say, whether of the house or of the stomach...
...its new central building, heading a system of thirty-five branches, alone has drawn 440,000 visitors in the twelve months...
...We're in This With Russia, etc...
...Readers are not content with the old type of stodgy, slow-moving, fact-crammed biography, however...
...Chess snd checker books are more persistently thumbed than in ordinary times...
...This accounts for the immense popularity of personal reminiscence excitingly told, whether the author be prominent or entirely unknown...
...Historical novels and fictionalized biography also prove of unusual attraction to readers in wartime...
...It follows from the above that the so-called "useful arts" are most popular with the wartime reading public...
...Students especially are draw n to a study of the new world they must help build...
...This deserves a separate heading in view of the fact just mentioned...
...The chief reason is that wartime activities take up most of their spare time...
...this is reflected - in greater interest by readers in problems of child csre...
...guainted With Chemistry...
...Ws Took to the Woods...
...People„are drawn to stories of life under unusual conditions, possibly because war forces such conditions upon masses of humanity in greater degree (Crose Creek...
...The lussian Enigma...
...Through Ja/mnese Barbed Wire...
...Are any distinct trends noticeable...
...That is the story, as told in the public library...
...The public is interested these days in nearly everything offered by a good library—and that means a library carefully selected with the public's tastes in mind...
...The demand for these resding materials hss slackened somewhat as industrial personnel hss become more experienced...
...Tko Tragedy of European Labor, etc...
...but it may be added that young people show little need to find escape through reading: few of them are trying to escape anything except school requirements for mors resding...
...People seem eager to frame our war objectives and peace ideals in concrete form...
...It is probably true that more persons read more to escape from their worries and sorrows in wartime* than for any other single reason, and they find this escape most readily through fiction...
...These frequently become acute ia wartime, and readers turn at least momentary attention to their solution...
...Fundamentals of Machines, etc...
...People come into the library just to sit and look at books on painting or photography or costume or dancing...
...advice frees librarians...
...Infsmt and Ckild in the Culture of Today, etc...
...Tokio Diary...
...This Is the Enemy...
...Technology...
...The Lure of Alaska, etc...
...it might be said that many persons are "shamed" into learning to write correctly to those dear to them in far places...
...The history of events directly leading up to the war is sought after (Berlin Diary...
...Marriage and the Family...
...Therefore, people flock to the librsry for information on nutrition, food, clothing, homemaking, gardening, carpentry, and so forth...
...in other words, the public applies the pragmatic test in wartime aa it would not think of doing in peacetime...
...This is especially true of those who see the opportunity to profit directly by their reeding, such as those preparing for a new Job or seeking promotion...
...Make This the Last War...
...The History of Painting...
...Journey Among Warriors...
...It is great enough to extend to their immediate families, and to include the most intimate personal details...
...We may find the answers to these questions through the public library...
...Problems of domestic economy similarly take precedence in the thoughts of the wartime population...
...One World...
...An institution such as the Brooklyn Public Library, Barring 2,700,000 persons of all racial and national origins and all degrees of education and culture, is well equipped to supply the answers...
...The popularity of books about marriage, the psychology snd physiology of sex, is evideaes ef this...
...Paris Underground...
...Your Place, Among the Stars...
...In sddition, the unusual development of labor unionism under the New Deal hss awakened widespread interest in its future, (Do You Know Labor...
Vol. 27 • February 1944 • No. 6
