From any perspective, the fact remains: Americans are who they are today because of who they became in World War II. The requirements of that period in our history -- the uprooting of families, the turbo-charging of the economy, the face-to-face encounter with brutality, the necessities of creating and feeding a war machine -- changed the country so fundamentally and profoundly that the effects are still playing out today.WWII is a tribute in words and images to this remarkable period in American history. Here are poetry and fiction, eye-witness accounts and reporters' columns tracing the evolution of a country and its soldiers, from the first rush of adrenaline to the brutal reality of war. To illustrate the text, more than 125 evocative images -- ranging from wartime sketches to iconic masterpieces -- have been culled from museums and private collections. The works of Thomas Hart Benton, Dame Laura Knight, Jacob Lawrence, Norman Rockwell, Ben Shahn, Graham Sutherland, and others are reproduced with stunning force. Throughout, there emerges a narrative of transformation amid a poignant loss of innocence, all in the name of courage and country.