Jane Mersky Leder

Residence : Evanston, IL
Website:: www.janeleder.com

Biographical information
Jane Mersky Leder is the author of three books, Dead Serious: A Book For Teenagers About Teen Suicide, Brothers & Sisters: How They Shape Our Lives, and Thanks For The Memories: Love, Sex, and World War II. She has also written Grace & Glory: A History of Women in the Olympics (Triumph Books) and dozens of books for young readers. Her feature articles have appeared in a variety of publications, including the Chicago Sun-Times, Psychology Today, American Heritage, Good Housekeeping, McCall’s, Woman’s Day, and Vegetarian Times.

Leder turned the tragic suicide of her brother into Dead Serious (Atheneum/Avon). The book garnered high praise and was heralded by The American Library Association as "One of the Best Books for Young Adults in 1987."Leder’s next book, Brothers & Sisters: How They Shape Our Lives (St. Martin’s/Ballantine) grew from her sense that the immense impact of siblings had been overshadowed by the emphasis placed on the role parents play. Everyone has a sibling story, she reasoned, even only children who covet a brother or sister or are tremendously eager to know what it would be like to have one.

Leder’s new book, Thanks For The Memories: Love, Sex, and World War II (Praeger), grew out of a conversation with her mother about her experiences as a service wife during the war. Amazed, Leder set out to uncover how the lives of ordinary American men and women had been turned upside down by World War II and how relations between the sexes changed. What she discovered shatters national myths about the "good," "obedient" young Americans during wartime.

Discussion topics

"Thanks for the Memories: Love, Sex, and World War II"

• What is the true story of how the World War II generation responded to the passions of war? Did young American men and women fall into lock step, asking very few questions, breaking few social and sexual mores? Or did their freedom away from home either in the military or as part of the working force offer them unprecedented opportunities for experimentation?
• Leder, who spent four years recording the stories of the World War II generation, discovered what few have been willing to discuss: In the throes of war, many young Americans broke the rules, throwing all caution to the wind. Wartime dating took on a passionate intensity. "Last fling" fever led to many young men and women becoming sexually active sooner than they might have otherwise been.
• World War II saw both a marriage boom and a baby boom. Through the war, the birth rate continued to peak nine months after every Allied victory. But not all of the births were to married couples: Some 650,000 babies were born out of wedlock between 1942 and 1945.
• For gays and lesbians, the wartime loosening of sexual mores led to something of a "coming out" experience. Still, same-sex relationships were forbidden in the U.S. military, and the punishments for getting caught were severe.
• Throughout the war, Uncle Sam waged a campaign to curb the spread of venereal disease. At first, the campaign focused on professional prostitutes. Later, teenage girls known as "Victory Girls," "Khaki Wackies," or "Good Time Charlottes" became the focus of attention.
• The World War II generation mobilized to fight a war and, in the process, not only defeated the enemy overseas but unwittingly instigated a seismic transformation in the way Americans work, love, mate, and ultimately partner with one another.

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