From Soldier to Storyteller

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Many of the best-known and most popular stories that children grew up with in the 20th century and into the 21st were written by veterans of World War I and World War II. These include works by such writers as A. A. Milne, C. S. Lewis, Roald Dahl, and Ian Fleming, among others. Although they had experienced war, most of the veterans did not overtly write about it. The seeming paradox of warriors who went through searing combat and then wrote books for children has not been addressed collectively before now.

This book explores what motivated these veterans to write for children, what they wrote, and how their writing was influenced by the wars they lived through. It examines how their combat experience can be traced in their writing, however subtly, whether it was stories about a bear and his piglet companion, a World War I flying ace, or a flying car. Their reactions to war, as reflected in their writing, yield important lessons about the complicated legacy of the 20th century's two great conflicts and their long-lasting impact--through children--on society at large.