The Christian Century

Those who watched the The War, a documentary about World War II by Ken Burns which aired on PBS this fall, could feel the horror of battle with a foot soldier from Mobile, Alabama; understand the pressure on a newspaper editor in Luverne, Minnesota, who worked as if victory depended on him; and feel the anxiety of a mother coping with the government’s rationing program.

Above all, viewers sensed how, for soldier and civilian alike, the war involved a lot of waiting—longing for a letter from a beloved young man in harm’s way, gazing each day at a picture of a faraway sweetheart, yearning for that great homecoming when the war would finally be over.