Arizona's War Town: Flagstaff, Navajo Ordnance Depot, and World War II - Rilegato

Westerlund, John S.

Rilegato

ISBN 10: 0816522626 ISBN 13: 9780816522620

Casa editrice: Univ of Arizona Pr, 2003

Riassunto

A clearing in the ponderosa pine forest called Volunteer Prairie met the military's criteria for a munitions depot - open terrain, a cool climate, plentiful water, and proximity to a railroad - and it was also sufficiently inland to be safe from the threat of coastal invasion. Constructing a depot of 800 ammunition bunkers, each the size of a 2,000-square-foot home, called for a force of 8,000 laborers, and Flagstaff became a boomtown overnight as construction workers and their families poured in from nearby Indian reservations and as far away as the Midwest and South. More than 2,000 were retained as permanent employees - a larger workforce than Flagstaff's total pre-war employment roster.
As Westerlund's portrait of wartime Flagstaff shows, prosperity brought unanticipated consequences: racism simmered beneath the surface of the town as ethnic groups were thrown together for the first time; merchants called a city-wide strike to protest emerging union activity; juvenile delinquency rose dramatically; Flagstaff women entered the workforce in unprecedented numbers, altering local mores along with their own plans for the future; meanwhile, hundreds of sailors and marines arrived at Arizona State Teachers College to participate in the Navy's "V-12" program. Whether recounting the difficulty of 3,500 Navajo and Hopi employees adjusting to life off the reservation or the complaints of townspeople that Austrian POWs - transferred to the depot to ease the labor shortage - were treated too well, Westerlund shows that the construction and maintenance of the facility were far more than military matters.
Navajo Ordnance Depot remained operational to support wars in Korea, Vietnam, and the Persian Gulf, and today Camp Navajo provides storage for thousands of deactivated ICBM motors. But in recounting its early days, Westerlund has blended social and military history to portray not only a city's transitional years but also the impact of military expansion on economic and community development in the American West.

Su questo libro

L'autore:

John S. Westerlund has taught at Northern Arizona University and at the Ecole Superieure de Guerre in Paris.

Product Description:

Book by Westerlund John S

Su questa edizione

• Editore: Univ of Arizona Pr
• Data di pubblicazione: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0816522626
• ISBN 13: 9780816522620
• Rilegatura: Copertina rigida
• Numero di pagine: 304