| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 109.1

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| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 109.1 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Canada and the United States

Kathleen E. R. Smith. God Bless America: Tin Pan Alley Goes to War. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky. 2003. Pp. xiii, 274. $45.00.

Wars have often prompted stirring songs in America. The Civil War inspired "When Johnny Comes Marching Home"; World War I gave us "Over There." No such blockbuster emerged in World War II, however, and this troubled some American leaders at that time. In her book, Kathleen E. R. Smith endeavors to explain why no memorable song came forth in the 1940s. Concerned as they were with morale, bureaucrats in the Federal Office of War Information were intensely interested in somehow bringing such a musical piece into existence. They made many efforts; all failed. There were some songs of the era with a wide popularity, and Smith acknowledges this. "Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition" was perhaps the biggest song of obvious war content, and it was widely heard and sung. A few other pieces also served national morale quite nicely. Indeed Irving Berlin's "God Bless America," although written three years before Pearl Harbor, became and remains immensely popular as a national hymn, perhaps eclipsing in importance all patriotic songs but the national anthem.

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