The Good War, like many of Studs Terkel’s books, is a compilation of interviews that are centered around a specific topic, in this case, World War II. The interviewees come from all corners of the United States and represent opinions that are often overlooked when discussing “the just war.” You hear from a weathered war veteran who gave his youth to his country, and was rewarded with amputated limbs and a terminal disease, yet still maintains his fierce patriotism.  On the opposite side of the spectrum, a woman whose marriage lived and died because of the war reveals her distrust of the government and harshly criticizes it for it’s deception, and it’s lack of accountability after the war.  Rather than learning about history the traditional way, where people are lumped together with no distinction between their beliefs, Terkel gives voices to those who would have otherwise been lost in the tidal wave of war stories.      These interviews, imbued with human nature, are not works of pure nonfiction.  They are real events that happened to actual people, but it is impossible to know how the memory was altered by grief, guilt, love, or time.  The story is unique to every person and so it is changed by every person, whether on purpose or not.  These interviews are the remnants of survivors who are in danger of being forgotten.