Westbury author Howard Blue recently published Words at War: World War II Era Radio Drama and the Postwar Broadcasting Industry Blacklist, a non-fiction depiction of how radio helped the American World War II effort. Words at War, which was released late last year under Scarecrow Press, is Blue's first published book.

Blue originally planned Words at War as an anthology of World War II propaganda radio from Britain, the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. He changed the book's focus, however, when he realized both how much American material there was and that there would be greater interest in the history of radio drama.

"When I was teaching, I used history-related radio plays in my classes. In 1994, I started an intensive search of what other radio play material I could use in classes," Blue said. "That is what got me onto the book idea. I saw there was so much American war-related material from the 1940s. Until now, there has not been anything written about this whole literary genre of the war-related radio play."

Words at War describes how 17 radio dramatists and their actors fought a war of words against fascism abroad and injustice at home. Beginning in the late 1930s, the commercial networks, private agencies and the government cooperated with radio dramatists to produce plays to alert Americans of the Nazi threat. They also used radio to stimulate morale and show how Americans could support the fight against fascism.

Simultaneously, as they worked on the war effort, many radio writers and actors advanced a progressive agenda to fight the enemy within. According to Blue, when the war ended, many of these people paid for their idealism by suffering blacklisting when veterans groups, the FBI, right-wing politicians and other reactionaries mounted an assault to drive them out of their professions.

"When I started to do just what I thought was going to be a history of it, I suddenly discovered there was a story there and that story was these people who were writing were largely a group of progressors," said Blue. "They were liberals and anti-segregationists in an era largely for the civil rights movement. They were working in scenes about how to defeat the enemy abroad and the repress of elements in American society. While they were doing this, however, they also were antagonizing a variety of forces in American life that did not want to see a change of racial structure in the US, for example."

He added, "Allan Sloan was a very interesting example of how the blacklist effected people. He was first a victim and, at the same time, an informer. To try to save his career, he gave in a bit."

Words at War also discusses commercial drama series' such as The Man Behind the Gun, network sustained shows such as those of Norman Corwin - the best known writer of radio drama of the late 1930s and 1940s, and government-produced programs such as the Uncle Sam series.

The book is largely based on Blue's interviews with Corwin, as well as Arthur Miller, Peter Seeger, Arthur Laurents, Art Carney and dozens of others associated with radio during its golden age. Public reaction to specific broadcasts and the issue of blacklisting are also discussed. In addition, Words at War focuses on censorship, scapegoating and the government's role in disseminating propaganda and other issues that, since September 11, 2001, have once again come to public attention.

"There has not been anything written about this whole literary genre and the war-related radio play," said Blue. "I started to do what was really going to be a history, but realized there was a story there. All those people who stayed in broadcasting and did not have any other avenues got hurt really bad. That is what my book is about."

According to screenwriter Christopher Trumbo, Words at War is "...a much needed contribution to broadcasting history. [Blue's] discussion of wartime radio is thorough and incisive and his research...is impressive."

David Honig, executive director of the Minority Media & Telecom Council, said, "[Words at War is] an outstanding contribution to the literature on civil rights..."

Blue added that his interest in World War II stems greatly from his own childhood. "I grew up in the generation on the war," he said. "I had a couple of uncles who brought back the typical souvenirs, like a Japanese soldiers' cartridge belt, and those were my play things. I also grew up on the John Wayne movies of the era. World War II was a big chapter in my conscience."

In addition, Blue said growing up during the tail end of the golden age of radio was also a big influence. "I remember listening to shows, in the latest part of that era it was Gun Smoke, when I would be riding with my father in the car. I [also] remember as a younger child listening to the wonderful program Let's Pretend. It was incredibly captivating."

Tim Crook, a professor with Goldsmith's College at the University of London, referred to Blue's book as "a tour de force of research and writing..."

Paul Buble of Brown University, author of Popular Culture in America, said, "This may well be the best book on American radio ever written."

Actor Theodore Bikel agreed, saying, "Howard Blue has made an important contribution to an examination of our times in this carefully researched book."

Blue, who speaks some Polish, Spanish and German and is fluent in Russian, spent most of his childhood in West Hempstead and attended Malverne elementary and junior high school before moving to Huntington and graduating from Walt Whitman High School. He earned a bachelor's in history from Stony Brook University and a master's in history from C.W. Post College. Blue retired in 1993 after teacher social studies at Northport High School for 32 years. He moved to Westbury in 1998. He is married to Deborah Goldberg, a biology, chemistry and forensic science teacher and has three daughters from a previous marriage.

For more information on Blue, visit www.howardblue.com.