5th Anniversary of Treason and a Failed Coup

Never forget January 6th.  Hold it in the same vein of warning, mourning, and determination to right the wrong as we do with September 11th or December 7th.  It might even be more important, as the enemy within is more dangerous to our democracy.

The morons who were whipped to a frenzy to attack the Capitol, assault police, threaten to kill the Vice President and several in our government, and as if to punctuate their disgusting nature, to defecate in the halls of that hallowed building that President Abraham Lincoln was determined to finish even during the Civil War as a symbol of our survival as a nation -- they have been pardoned by the Felon, the lead traitor.

Now it's time to pursue him and the others who orchestrated the conspiracy, the ones who engineered the attack.  Be a patriot and watch Special Prosecutor Jack Smith's testimony.  Push your government to prosecute the traitors.

Publishers Weekly review of CHILDREN'S WARTIME ADVENTURE NOVELS

This year, 2025, we mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II.  There are many stories of the war and that era, and some of them were meant for children.

My recently published book, Children's Wartime Adventure Novels: The Silent Generation's Vicarious Experience of World War II, has received the following review from BookLife and will be published in Publishers Weekly magazine on Monday the 12th.

"Lynch illuminates a fascinating, little-studied chapter of publishing history in this study of exactly what the title suggests: World War II adventure novels for young American readers, printed during—and in a few cases before—U.S. involvement in the war itself, in which protagonists in their late teens and early 20s set aside the anxieties of youth to do their part to stomp out fascism. In title after title, pilots and soldiers (the men, mostly) and nurses, reporters, WACs, WASPS, WAVES, and more (the women) evince courage, endurance, dedication to the cause, and a savvy sense for identifying fifth columnists. Lynch celebrates the novels’ sense of “spirited adventure” and ethos of “patriotic self-sacrifice” while digging into thorny questions of propaganda and indoctrination, including racial and ethnic stereotyping. Declares a radioman in Gregory Duncan’s Dick Donnelly of the Paratroops, judiciously quoted by Lynch, “When I shoot at the enemy, I’m not shootin’ at any one person. I’m just shootin’ at an idea I hate, an idea that will ruin the whole world if it isn’t stopped.”

Lynch writes with infectious enthusiasm for the subject, soaring through detailed summaries of the stories of dozens of books like Red Randall at Pearl Harbor, Nancy Blake, Copywriter, and the surprisingly grim nurse adventure Ann Bartlett at Bataan, which is frank about wartime surgery: “a tattered mass of flesh and bone.” Especially engaging are Lynch’s considerations of the differences between the novels with girl heroes—these stories of the “protectors of the homefront” sometimes boasted career advice and a “surprisingly feminist spark of independence and derring-do”—and the high-flying, battle-oriented novels starring boys.

While Lynch is always engaging, the many summaries can get repetitive, and readers wish for more insight into these books’ creation, sales, and cultural impact. Late chapters surveying questions of patriotism and stereotypes across a host of books, though, offer continual revelations and insights, a rich contribution to the study of American literature and propaganda. These books deserve serious study.

Takeaway: Fascinating study of WWII teen adventure novels and the American character."

You can get your copy in eBook, paperback, or hardcover from Amazon here.

Or paperback from Ingram here.  Or hardcover from Ingram here.

Or eBook and paperback from Barnes & Noble, or eBook from a variety of online shops including Apple and Kobo here.

Or eBook from my own shop here.

I'd love to hear your review.

And now a word from our sponsor...

Hoppin' down the bunny trail ... t-shirts, buttons, stickers, and more! Check out my twin brother John's cartoons on Redbubble merch! (That's ArteAcher23 to you!)

Zoom talk on my book CHILDREN'S WARTIME ADVENTURE NOVELS!

Join me online for a Zoom talk on my book, CHILDREN'S WARTIME ADVENTURE NOVELS! The presentation will be hosted by the Holyoke (Massachusetts) Public Library, scheduled for Thursday, February 27th at 3:00 p.m. The event will be a PowerPoint talk with images from the classic children's literature I discuss in the book, with some time afterward for questions and comments. I'd love to hear about your favorites when you were kids.

Register for the Zoom talk here at the link below. See you then!

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/jrzRhtp3RO6_5MhcmpfxXg#/registration

YouTube review of my book Children's Wartime Adventure Novels

Here's a review by Meg Perdue of my latest book, Children's Wartime Adventure Novels up at YouTube.  Please have a look!

NOW PUBLISHED - CHILDREN'S WARTIME ADVENTURE NOVELS

My new non-fiction book, CHILDREN'S WARTIME ADVENTURE NOVELS - The Silent Generation's Vicarious Experience of World War II -- is now available in eBook here at Barnes & Noble, Apple, Kobo, and a wide variety of other online shops.

And it is here in eBook, paperback print, and soon, hardcover, from Amazon.

From Cherry Ames, to Meet the Malones, from Dave Dawson to Kitty Carter - Canteen Girl, the Silent Generation spent their childhood immersed in geopolitical events through the prism of their middle grade and young adult books.  From the home front to the battlefield, these books are a window on their world, and influenced their hard-working, conformity-loving generation.

For many of us later generations, these books were hand-me-downs from older siblings or other relatives, or discovered at yard sales or online.  Here they are discussed and examined against the background of the exciting and tumultuous era that produced them.

I hope you enjoy it.

For reviewers, please email me at JacquelineTLynch@gmail.com for a pdf copy in exchange for a fair review on the website of your choice.

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Jacqueline T. Lynch is the author of Ann Blyth: Actress. Singer. Star. and Movies in Our Time - Hollywood Mirrors and Mimics the Twentieth Century and Hollywood Fights Fascism and Christmas in Classic Films. TO JOIN HER READERS' GROUP - follow this link for a free book as a thank-you for joining.

Children's Wartime Adventure Novels - COVER REVEAL

Here's the cover of my new book, CHILDREN'S WARTIME ADVENTURE NOVELS - The Silent Generation's Vicarious Experience of World War II.

Long title, I know.  Sometimes I feel it's best to just be plain about it, that way you know what you're getting.

Here's the blurb:

Experience World War II like an American twelve-year-old.

From Cherry Ames and Ann Bartlett nursing in war zones from the Pacific to Europe, from aviators Dave Dawson and Stan Wilson in aerial dogfights with the enemy, the middle-grade and teen readers growing up in the early 1940s received through these characters an amazing window on a world at war.
​​​​​​​
The World War II-themed series novels discussed in this book were their companions in the baffling and exciting era of their already normally angst-ridden pre-teen and teen years.  These books provided entertainment, inspiration, education, and indoctrination as to what would be expected of them as kids supporting the war effort and what kind of adults they should strive to be.

They grew up to be called The Silent Generation, known for conformity, respect for rules, and a quiet but determined work ethic that never left them. See how the adventures in the wartime children's books they read shaped their knowledge of the world and formed their ideals.
 
The series novels for children published in the early 1940s allow us to explore the theaters of war, the home front, the news of the day as it was absorbed by the teens and pre-teens who were too young to participate in the war effort like adults, but who still felt the impact of world-shaking events.

This book will be available in eBook, paperback print, and also in hardcover.  I expect publication to be in late August.

Email me at JacquelineTLynch@gmail.com for a PDF review copy in exchange for a fair review at the site of your choice.  Thank you!

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Our greatest gift from the Greatest Generation was freedom from fascism. Relive, and celebrate, how evil was faced, discussed, dramatized...and fought. Classic films were Hollywood's weapon.

Get your copy of my book Hollywood Fights Fascism here at Amazon in print or eBook, or FREE here for a limited time at Barnes & Noble, Apple, Kobo, and a variety of other online shops.

  ************

Jacqueline T. Lynch is the author of Ann Blyth: Actress. Singer. Star. and Movies in Our Time - Hollywood Mirrors and Mimics the Twentieth Century and Hollywood Fights Fascism and Christmas in Classic Films. TO JOIN HER READERS' GROUP - follow this link for a free book as a thank-you for joining.

 

NEW BOOK -- Children's Wartime Adventure Novels

I’m happy to announce the forthcoming publication of my next book, which is non-fiction, an exploration of children’s middle-grade and teen adventure stories published during World War II about that war.  It’s called (cue trumpet):

 

Children’s Wartime Adventure Novels 

The Silent Generation’s Vicarious Experience

 of World War II

 

The book revisits some kids’ books you may even remember from your own childhoods—from the Cherry Ames series to the Dave Dawson series, Ann Barlett, Meet the Malones, and a host of other stories that brought the war home to the kids too young to fight it but who nevertheless were acutely aware of its tragedies, triumphs, anxieties, and grim realities.  The books were published not merely to entertain—indeed, some of the violence is astounding—but to educate the kids on what the war was ideologically about and to indoctrinate them to the kind of patriotic and self-sacrificing citizens they should try to be.  Moreover, there was a burst of feminist inspiration as women not only desired to help the war effort but were actually needed to win the war.

The stories are a real-time view of not only the battle zones but also what was happening on the home front.

Most of these books are no longer in print—but some old copies are quite valuable to collectors.  Some of them remained in print to entertain the Boomers—Cherry Ames is notable for inspiring more than one generation to enter the field of nursing.

In the weeks ahead I’ll be unveiling the cover.  

This book will be available in eBook, paperback print, and also in hardcover.  I expect publication to be in late August.

If any blogger, or reviewer would like an ARC (advance reader copy) in PDF, either drop a comment below with your email, name of your blog, website, or where you plan to post the review, or email me at JacquelineTLynch@gmail.com.  Thank you!

 *******************

Our greatest gift from the Greatest Generation was freedom from fascism. Relive, and celebrate, how evil was faced, discussed, dramatized...and fought. Classic films were Hollywood's weapon.

Get your copy of my book Hollywood Fights Fascism here at Amazon in print or eBook, or FREE here for a limited time at Barnes & Noble, Apple, Kobo, and a variety of other online shops.

  ************

Jacqueline T. Lynch is the author of Ann Blyth: Actress. Singer. Star. and Movies in Our Time - Hollywood Mirrors and Mimics the Twentieth Century and Hollywood Fights Fascism and Christmas in Classic Films. TO JOIN HER READERS' GROUP - follow this link for a free book as a thank-you for joining.

 

 

 

 

Second anniversary of World War III

 

Today, February 24, 2024, marks the second anniversary of World War III.  Those who do not acknowledge it as such or think of it only as an escalation of the Russo-Ukranian War of 2014 have their heads in the sand, or their hands in a foreign adversary's pocket.  But future historians will record it as such.  

We can send arms now to Ukraine (and nearly 90 percent of that money stays in the U.S. to pay American manufacturers to replace our old supplies and stockpiles with new ones), or we can pay in American lives months down the road.  We had the same choice in the late 1930s and we blew it, largely because of the greed and stupidity, and outright bigotry, of radical right isolationists, and for many of them, a sick and slavish love of authoritarianism.  America First equates to Fascism First.  

Slava Ukraini!

The Little Engine That Killed - book 7 in the Double V Mysteries series

I'm very pleased to announce my newest book -- the seventh in my Double V Mysteries series:  The Little Engine That Killed.

On this adventure, Juliet and Elmer take on a case tracking an about-to-be-released prisoner to recover the money he stole and hid years before -- but as usual, nothing is as it seems, there are more questions than answers, and danger increases with every twist and turn.  It's the Christmas season, 1951, and our intrepid duo, unlike Santa Claus, have a little trouble determining for sure who is naughty and who is nice.

Writing this book has been a special treat for me, because I chose the setting for this story in my own hometown -- Chicopee, Massachusetts.  But there's a twist to that as well.  The particular part of town where the story takes place is Chicopee Falls.  In 1951, that village was completely different than it is now, because in the late 1960s and early 1970s, most of it was demolished in an urban renewal project.  To write this book, I had to recreate not only a time, but a place that no longer exists.  All of the books in this series are a form of time-travel.  This one, The Little Engine That Killed, is especially so.

As you can tell from the cover, trains figure prominently in the story.  Coal does, too, but not just for the Christmas stocking.

Grab your copy in print or eBook here at Amazon.  In a couple weeks, it'll be available from a variety of other online sources including Barnes & Noble, Apple, Kobo and others!

Today's introductory price for the eBook is 99 cents.  Tomorrow, the price goes up to $1.99, and Saturday up to $2.99.  Sunday, the regular price of $3.99 will go into effect, so if you want to save some bucks, grab it today!

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Jacqueline T. Lynch is the author of Ann Blyth: Actress. Singer. Star. and Movies in Our Time - Hollywood Mirrors and Mimics the Twentieth Century and Hollywood Fights Fascism and Christmas in Classic Films. TO JOIN HER READERS' GROUP - follow this link for a free book as a thank-you for joining.

Zoom talk on my novel BESIDE THE STILL WATERS

I'll be giving an online Zoom presentation for the Amherst (Massachusetts) Historical Society on the historical background for my novel, Beside the Still Waters, about the towns that were demolished to create the Quabbin Reservoir. The story is about community and the loss of community, and how our hometowns make up a big part of our family heritage and our personal identities. Photos and map images will accompany the talk, which will be part of the Society’s “History Bites Lunchtime Lecture Series”, this coming Friday, December 3, 2021 from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m.

Join the Zoom presentation through this link (or contact the Amherst Historical Society’s website):

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84485731584#success

In remembrance... 9/11/01

The blog goes dark this week in remembrance of the 20th anniversary of our nation's sorrow on September 11, 2001.

Link to my Zoom talk on BESIDE THE STILL WATERS

Here is a link to my recorded Zoom talk  earlier this month on the historical background of my novel Beside the Still Waters  for the Holyoke Public Library of Holyoke, Massachusetts, for those of you who were unable to join us.

The novel, a family saga, is about the four towns that were demolished to create the Quabbin Reservoir in central Massachusetts in the 1920s and 1930s.  The story is about community and the loss of community, and how our hometowns make up a big part of our family heritage and our personal identities.  Photos and map images accompany the talk. 

Here's the link:

Author Talk-Beside the Still Waters - Zoom

I hope you enjoy it.   For more of my books on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple iTunes, Kobo, and a variety of other online shops, please see my website here:  www.JacquelineTLynch.com.

Thanks for reading...

Jacqueline

Zoom talk on BESIDE THE STILL WATERS

 

Zoom presentation on BESIDE THE STILL WATERS: Tuesday, June 8, 2021, 7 p.m. (ET)

I'll be discussing the historical background of my novel about the four towns that were demolished to create the Quabbin Reservoir in Massachusetts. The story is about community and how the loss of community affects our family heritage and our personal identities. Photos and maps will be part of the presentation hosted by the Holyoke Public Library, Holyoke, Massachusetts.

Please email mbaron@holyokelibrary.org for the link to join us. See you there!

Doing Our Bit in Isolation - The 1940s House

In the midst of the pandemic that requires us to be supremely careful, courageous, and compassionate, those of us in the classic film fan community likely have our own recommendations for favorite films to comfort and inspire.  We have favorite films for almost any occasion, actually.  You forgot to pick up your dry cleaning before non-essential businesses shut down?  There's probably a movie for that.  Clinton Sundberg, Charles Lane, and Bess Flowers are probably in it.

But today I'd like to refer you to The 1940s House, another source of comfort and inspiration, and a great learning tool, in the form of a television miniseries that takes us back to World War II in Great Britain. Or rather, it takes a modern British family back to those days and puts them through the paces to see how they cope with rationing, making do, being creative in the midst of adversity, pulling together to cope with a national calamity, and most of all--isolation.  It's a very entertaining and often quite funny glimpse into the old "what would I do if it were me?" game.

Perhaps you remember watching The 1940s House here in the U.S. on PBS back in 2002 - a time when we were still reeling and coping with the aftermath of 9/11.  It's available here on DVD, but you can watch it as well in four parts on YouTube.  If you're looking for something to binge-watch, this is a good pick.  It's not Mrs. Miniver (1942), but it's a nifty bit of time traveling. What I find most especially poignant is how the experience changed them and what it brought to their lives once the experiment was over.  If you do watch it, I'd love to know what you think.

There's another British family that has made a hit on social media this week for their hysterical version of "One Day More" from Les Misérables.  I leave you with them for an even more modern method of coping.

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Jacqueline T. Lynch is the author of Ann Blyth: Actress. Singer. Star. and Memories in Our Time - Hollywood Mirrors and Mimics the Twentieth Century. Her newspaper column on classic films, Silver Screen, Golden Memories is syndicated nationally.

Selling my books at the Easthampton Book Fest!

Join me at the 5th annual Easthampton Book Fest where I'll be selling my books in the Literary Marketplace with a host of other writers in this town-wide cultural event.

The date is Saturday, April 13th, from noon to 5 p.m. at the Eastworks  building on 116 Pleasant Street, Easthampton, Massachusetts.  

A variety of other activities and vendors will be located also at the Cottage Street Cultural District and at the Historic District at Main & Union streets.

My twin brother John and I will be there with all our books, including our newest venture - Bob the Bear's A-B-C Coloring Book!  If you like to color and have forgotten the alphabet, this is just the thing for you.  

Or give it to a child.  You'll look less ridiculous.

See you in Easthampton, Saturday, April 13th!

Book sale at fall craft fair!

I’ll be selling my books at the Knights of Columbus Hall, Granby Road in Chicopee, Massachusetts, on this coming Sunday, October 21, 2018.

I’m very happy to be taking part in the St. Joan of Arc School P.T.O. Fall Craft Fair. 

There will be a variety of vendors selling their craft items for the upcoming holiday season, and my twin brother John and I will have a table for our books.  Please come down and say hello, have a look around, and maybe even get a jump on your holiday shopping.  There will also be a raffle, and lunch options and baked goods will be available.  Come out and help the P.T.O. support the students!

The event runs from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Sunday, October 21^st.  The K of C Hall is at 460 Granby Road, Chicopee, Massachusetts.

See you there!

Upcoming author event

My last post on the current state of the classic film fan series will be published here next Thursday.  Today a heads-up on my upcoming author event:

A close-up of two of my books on the shelf at Blue Umbrella Books in Westfield, Massachusetts, along with a notice about my upcoming visit to the bookstore on Saturday, December 3rd.

On November 16th, the local daily paper, The Westfield News, featured an article on my upcoming meet-and-greet at the store by Lori Szepelak.  That it made the front page of the paper was an special kick for me, for, as I mentioned in the interview, I used to write a weekly column for this newspaper over thirty years ago when I was a senior at Westfield State College (now Westfield State University).

I'm looking forward to meeting readers and shoppers at Blue Umbrella Books this Saturday, December 2nd from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., where all my books will be available for sale and signing.  Blue Umbrella Books is located at 2 Main Street, Westfield, right in the center of town on the common.

Meet & Greet & Book Signing

I will be signing books and visiting with readers and shoppers at Blue Umbrella Books in Westfield on Saturday, December 3rd from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Blue Umbrella Books, located at 2 Main Street, Westfield, Mass., right on the common, carries all my books, which will be available for sale and signing. Please stop by and chat if you have the time.

Or start your holiday shopping.

Talk on my novel BESIDE THE STILL WATERS

This is to announce that I will be speaking at the Agawam (Massachusetts) Public Library on my novel Beside the Still Waters and the destruction of four towns in Central Massachusetts for the building of the Quabbin Reservoir in the 1920s and 1930s.  I’ll be bring some poster-sized aerial photographs to illustrate the setting of the novel and the towns which were systematically dismantled.

More on the book:

Four towns, gone. Dismantled slowly while their inhabitants grieve for a history and heritage that has been voted away from them. The present threatens; the future belongs to the fearless.

Beside the Still Waters is a family saga based on an actual event which displaced four entire towns in central Massachusetts for the construction of a reservoir. Today, the Quabbin Reservoir provides water for millions of citizens, primarily in the greater Boston area.

Families are divided between those who protest the construction project, those who give up and leave, and those who help to build it. The central character is Jenny, a girl who comes of age facing the extinction of her community, who becomes the guardian of her family’s heritage, and ultimately, the one to decide what happens to them.

A rift between two brothers, Eli and John Vaughn, at the turn of the 20th Century continues through to the next generation as John tries to use Jenny, Eli’s daughter, in a plot to regain the family farm from Alonzo, who now runs it, who is Jenny's love. John is broke and eager to sell the farm to the state, which is buying up area property for the coming reservoir. Both Alonzo and Eli refuse to sell their properties, and protest removal by eminent domain. Torn between loyalty to her family and heritage, and the allure of a future beyond the valley, Jenny refuses to remain powerless like the men she loves, but looks for a way to take control. A disastrous decision may prove fatal in a race against time.

The talk is free to the public; please join us on Monday, April 4^th at 7 p.m. at the Agawam Public Library, 750 Cooper Street, Agawam.