Days before the armistice was signed ending World War I, Stratton D. Brooks, third president of the University of Oklahoma, sent a letter to every student, former student, and faculty member serving in the armed forces. He had a request: would each man write a letter in reply, describing his experiences and impressions during his wartime service? Dozens of them responded in late 1918 and early 1919. Now, more than a century later, historian David W. Levy has selected and annotated fifty-three of these letters. Sooner Doughboys Write Home is a richly detailed-and often poignant-record of what these young men thought about the war and what they witnessed firsthand. As Levy explains in his thorough introduction, most of these young men, or "doughboys" as they were called, came from small Oklahoma towns and farms. Suddenly thrust into strange and often dangerous circumstances after the United States entered the war in 1917, they betray in their letters an appealing innocence of this wider world. For some of them, it is a world of dreary inactivity and boredom, punctuated by moments of breathtaking violence and danger. Others marvel at sights in Paris and in Germany. All the while, they keep a sharp eye out for their Sooner classmates from Norman, eager to share a quick drink or hurried chat. Although these Sooner doughboys, as Levy acknowledges, were not "ordinary," given their privileged status as college students, they observed the war from the field and not from some more remote vantage point. Drawing on his expertise as an American historian and his extensive knowledge of the university's history, Levy identifies and explains in ample footnotes the numerous people and places mentioned by the letter writers. In so doing, he ties the experience of everyday Oklahomans to a global conflict that changed the course of history.
David W. Levy is retired as the Irene and Julian J. Rothbaum Professor of Modern American History and David Ross Boyd Professor of History at the University of Oklahoma. He is the author of Herbert Croly of the New Republic: The Life and Thought of an American Progressive and Mark Twain: The Divided Mind of America's Best-Loved Writer and coeditor of seven volumes of the letters of Supreme Court justice Louis D. Brandeis. Joseph Harroz Jr. is President of the University of Oklahoma.
"These letters provide a glimpse into the lives of these everyday soldiers to whom we can trace our OU lineage, revealing their humanity as they fought to preserve democracy and instill lasting peace... I encourage you to read these letters not only to learn about the lives and legacies of those who have gone before us but also to be inspired to forge your own."-from the foreword by Joseph Harroz Jr. "Sooner Doughboys Write Home is an engaging introduction to eyewitness accounts of American service in World War I, offering a broad selection of voices of OU's young men in uniform and what they witnessed on the home front and in France."-David V. Holtby, author of Lest We Forget: World War I and New Mexico "David Levy has done the historical record of Oklahoma an incredible service by publishing these long-forgotten firsthand accounts of Sooners in the Great War. Each of the letters offers a sobering picture of the harsh realities of war from those closest to its effects. This book is a must-read for those seeking a better understanding of how Oklahomans contributed to the American victory in World War I."-Trait Thompson, Executive Director of the Oklahoma Historical Society
