FILM RECOMMENDATION
The Best Years of Our Lives stars Frederic Marsh, Dana Andrews and Harold Russell who portray three soldiers, all from different social backgrounds, returning home to their idyllic small town. Even though it dates itself rather firmly in the post World War II era, the issues it talks about are as real today as they were on V-E or V-J day of 1945. The problem of how to assimilate returning war veterans is as old as the written history of our planet.1946, Winner of 8 Academy Awards. Available on YouTube.
BOOK RECOMMENDATION
Democracy Awakening Notes on the State of America by historian, author and professor of history at Boston College, Dr. Heather Cox Richardson. The Guardian said of Dr. Richardson, “Not since Edward P. Morgan captivated the liberal elite with his nightly 15-minute broadcasts in the 1960s has one pundit been so important to so many progressive Americans at once.” 2023, published by Viking. Wherever books are sold. Don’t have time to read the book? Michel Martin of Amanpour & Co. interviews Heather Cox Richardson, author of Democracy Awakening. Watch the interview here.