- Books in Action. In 1983, the 40th anniversary of the ASE project was celebrated at the Library of Congress. Books in Action is a compilation of material assembled for that event, including the reminiscences of several of the founding members of the project. It also includes a complete title list.
- Books Go To War. The online catalogue to accompany an exhibition that took place at the University of Virginia in 1996.
- Wikipedia – Armed Services Editions. This article was originally written by me when I first began researching them in 2006. Many other people have edited and contributed to it since then, and I’m happy to see that it has served as a source for others who are researching this fascinating moment in publishing.
- The Art of Manliness: Armed Services Edition Books. An interesting and fairly in-depth article from February, 2011.
- Fighting the Fires of hate: America at War. This online exhibit from the US Holocaust Museum discusses three organizations—the Writers’ War Board, the Council on Books in Wartime, and the Office of War Information—that were aligned in the “war of ideas.”
- The Legacy Project: Armed Services Editions. “Beginning in November 2002, Legacy Project founder Andrew Carroll has been working with major publishers to bring them back. Hyperion, Simon & Schuster, and Dover Publications were among the first to join together to publish and distribute free ASEs to American troops stationed overseas and serving on U.S. warships.”
Bibliography
There are a number of print sources that provide useful information about the ASE project. Among them are:
J. Y. Cole’s Books In Action, which is also available electronically from the link above.
Balou, Robert O. A History of the Council of Books in Wartime: 1942-1946. From the working draft prepared by Irene Rakosky. New York: Country Life Press, 1946.
Jamieson, John. Editions for the Armed Services, Inc.: A History, Together with the Complete List of the 1,324 Books Published for American Armed Forces Overseas. New York: Editions for the Armed Services, Inc., 1948.
I would love to obtain used print copies of these books. If you know where copies are available, I would love to hear from you!
When I was doing my original research on ASEs I also enjoyed reading David Wittels’ article “What The G. I. Reads,” which appeared in the Saturday Evening Post on June 23, 1945. I don’t know of an electronic version of this article on the public web but it can be found in some libraries’ databases.
