And Now, Some OG Anti-Fascist Fiction: "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn"
Celebrating D-Day and also Betty Smith's 1943 autobiographical novel.
Nearly halfway through 2024. Here’s a cheer for the 80th anniversary of D-Day last week.
Normally, my spouse and I watch Saving Private Ryan and/or Band of Brothers to honor the occasion. I confess we were both drained and struggling to focus last week, so…we may have turned to another Spielberg magnum opus:
We then chased this pint of cinematic glory that is “Raiders of the Lost Ark” with a shot of the 1967 “Hogan’s Heroes” episode “D-Day at Stalag 13.”
Is it utterly ridiculous? Of course. “Hogan’s Heroes” is its own essay for another day. But for D-Day purposes, Werner Klemperer (and really, all love to every actor on that show except Bob Crane) will always crack me up when he yells, “Those BARBARIANS! They’re invading France!”
The point is, I believe in remembering the past in all the different ways—cherishing the good, owning the bad, and when everything else seems exhausting, taking joy in the silly and weird.
Which brings me to writing about “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.”
When one of my favorite Substacks, The Books That Made Us, invited guest posts last year, I knew right away that this was the one I wanted to write about. I’d just finished Molly Guptill Manning’s When Books Went to War, and learning about how popular this coming-of-age book about an Irish Catholic girl was with U.S. soldiers fighting in WWII got me right in the heart. But I also remembered my own history with the novel when I first read it at 13. I didn’t love ATGIB at the time, but it affected me in ways I didn’t appreciate until I was older. In 2024, I’m convinced it matters more than ever. It’s historical fiction from World War II: it was published in 1943 and set in early 20th-century Brooklyn. It cherishes the good in that past, owns the bad, and celebrates the silly and weird—oh, and also, sex, which, well, for that, read the essay.
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