Doug Most Launching Liberty review, recensie en informatie boek  over de epische race om de schepen te bouwen die Amerika in de oorlog brachten. Op 19 augustus 2025 verschijnt bij Simon & Schuster het boek van Doug Most over de Liberty schepen die Amerika de Tweede Wereldoorlog in brachten en hielpen bij de overwinning. Een Nederlandse vertaling van het boek is niet verkrijgbaar.

Doug Most Launching Liberty review en recensie

• “In Launching Liberty, Doug Most has brilliantly illuminated an important and undervalued step in how America prepared for its fight against fascism.” (David Maraniss, The Washington Post)
• “Richly researched and ceaselessly captivating, Launching Liberty brings to life the overlooked story of an industrial miracle that proved essential in winning the war against Nazi Germany. Doug Most gives us a timely and much needed reminder of what the United States can achieve when government, titans of commerce and ordinary citizens join together in common cause and an urgent spirit of determination.” (Martin Baron)
• “More than anything, Launching Liberty is the story of how to get tough things done—not always pretty, rarely perfect, but an achievement over daunting challenges, nonetheless. Doug Most skillfully delivers a tribute to American know-how and provides an instructive account of how America at all levels responded to crisis, united in common purpose, and accomplished the seemingly impossible.” (Walter R. Borneman)

Launching Liberty

The Epic Race to Build the Ships That Took America to War

• Auteur: Doug Most (Verenigde Staten)
• Soort boek: oorlogsgeschiedenis, scheepvaart
• Taal: Engels
• Uitgever: Simon & Schuster
• Verschijnt: 19 augustus 2025
• Omvang: 464 pagina’s
• Uitgave: gebonden boek / ebook / luisterboek
• Prijs: $ 30,99 / $ 16,99 / $ 29,99
• Boek bestellen bij: Amazon / Bol / Libris

Flaptekst van het boek van Doug Most over de Libertyschepen

Out of nothing but the government’s behest, a few bold men conjured a giant ship-building industry in 1940 and launched the ships that took America to war and to victory.

In 1940, the shadow of war loomed large over American life. President Roosevelt understood that it wasn’t a matter of if the United States would be pulled into battle, but when. He foresaw a “new kind of war,” one that hinged on efforts at home. Long before the attack on Pearl Harbor, German U-boats were relentlessly attacking American vessels, prompting Roosevelt to launch a monumental ship-building campaign. He knew that no matter how much weaponry and how many tanks, planes and trucks America built, the “Arsenal of Democracy” would be useless unless it could be brought in massive volume, and at breakneck speed, to troops fighting overseas.

Launching Liberty tells the remarkable story of how FDR partnered with private businessmen to begin the production of cargo freighters longer than a football field—ships he affectionately dubbed “ugly ducklings.” These colossal Liberty Ships took over six months to build at the start of his $350 million emergency shipbuilding program, far too long. The government turned to Henry Kaiser, the man who had delivered the Boulder Dam ahead of schedule and under budget, but had never built a ship in his life. Kaiser established a network of shipyards from coast to coast and recruited tens of thousands of workers eager to contribute to the war effort. Many, particularly African Americans and women, traveled from some of the most downtrodden, rural parts of the nation to help their country and to find a better life of greater equality.

As German U-boats maintained their pace of attack, Roosevelt and Kaiser initiated a bold, nationwide competition among shipyards to see who could construct ships the fastest. Driven by duty and the thrill of innovation, workers reduced the shipbuilding timeline from months to weeks and then to days. Launching Liberty is a tapestry of voices reflecting the diverse American experience of World War II. From the halls of the White House to the cramped quarters of half-finished cargo ships, we hear from naval architects, welders, nurses, engineers, daycare providers, and mothers balancing family life with the demands of wartime economy. This book uncovers the inspiring, untold stories of those who rose to the challenge during one of America’s most tumultuous times.

Doug Most was born in 1968 in Boston and is a native of Rhode Island, is a lifelong journalist and author whose career has spanned newspapers, magazines, and universities up and down the East Coast, with stops in Washington, DC; South Carolina; New Jersey; and Boston. He was named Journalist of the Year while at The Record in Bergen County, New Jersey, for his coverage of a tragic story about two teens charged with killing their newborn, a story he turned into a true-crime book titled Always in Our Hearts. After a stint at Boston Magazine, he worked for fifteen years at The Boston Globe, as the Sunday Magazine editor, and deputy managing editor/special projects. His articles have appeared in Best American Sports Writing and Best American Crime Writing. His 2014 nonfiction book, The Race Underground, told the story about the birth of subways in America, in the late 1800s and was adapted into a PBS/American Experience documentary. The New York Times called the book “a sweeping narrative of late-19th-century intrigue.” He works now as the executive editor and an assistant vice president at Boston University. He holds a BA from George Washington University in political communication.

Bijpassende boeken

• Amerikaanse geschiedenis boeken
• Boeken over schepen en scheepvaart