http://www.criticsrant.com/archive/2007/09/25/THE-WAR----When-Things-Get-Tough.aspx Thomas “Tip” O’Neill was a Democratic congressman from Massachusetts for 34 years, including 11 years (1977-87) he spent as Speaker of the House.  He kept getting re-elected because he served his district well.  As he put it himself, “all politics is local.” That applies to everything.  Consider the economy.  If a million people are unemployed it’s a recession.  If you’re unemployed it’s a depression. Well, it’s the same thing with war.  It is Ken Burns’s particular genius to tell the story locally, from the point of view of four communities around the nation and some of the veterans from there who served in the conflict. For one thing, their comments give you a different impression from the ones most of us have about war, from movies and TV shows and such.  What they have to say is interesting, of course, but seeing them spiffed up in 60-year-old photos and now is as fascinating.  They were children sent off to slaughter.  The cause was right, but they were still children. This episode covers 1943, and at that tome Pvt. Charles Mann of Luverne, Minn., served in North Africa.  “We didn’t know what to do,” he said.  The soldiers were simply unprepared for battle and their unnamed commander was apparently a coward who kept his headquarters 20 miles behind the front lines. en-US Critics Rant info@criticsrant.com Subtext Version 1.9.4.0 http://www.criticsrant.com/images/default_gravatar_bullhorn.png http://www.criticsrant.com/archive/2007/09/25/THE-WAR----When-Things-Get-Tough.aspx 77 60