This book is a first edition written by Bill Mauldin, published in 1947, the narrative is 315 pages and is illustrated with black and white drawings. In the summer of 1945, a great tide of battered soldiers began flowing back to the United States from around the globe. Though victorious, these exhausted men were nevertheless to grief stricken over the loss of comrades, to guilt ridden that they had survived, and to numbed by trauma to share in the country's euphoria. Most never saw a ticker tape parade, or stole a Times Square kiss. Willie & Joe: Back Home brilliantly chronicles the struggles and disillusionments of these early post war years and, in doing so, tells Bill Mauldin's extraordinary journey back home to a wife he barely knew and a son he had only seen in pictures. The pictures capture the text and feel of this confusing time: the ubiquitous hats and cigarettes, the domestic rubs, the rising fear of another war, and new conflicts over civil rights, civil liberties and free speech. This volume of Mauldin's work identifies and restores the dozens of cartoons censored by Mauldin's syndicate for their attacks on racial segregation and McCarthy style "witch hunts". Mauldin pleaded with his syndicate to let him out of his contract so that he could return to the simple and quiet life so desired by Joe and Willie. The syndicate refused, so Mauldin did battle, as always, through pen and ink. This hardback book is in good condition, but the dust cover is in poor condition.

Item # AA2968