A Librarian’s War
The Man Who Fought World War II with Books and Brought the Joy of Reading to Millions
In November 1940, Ray Love Trautman, a recent graduate of Columbia University’s School of Library Service, landed the job of a lifetime, Chief Librarian of the U.S. Army. He had served in the ROTC in the 1920s, been a flying cadet, managed independent bookstores, and spent several years building libraries for the New Deal’s Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s. But the Army appointment presented young Trautman with the greatest challenge he would ever face: ensuring that millions of American troops scattered across the globe had something to read. They were counting on him.
A soldier reading in a flooded camp in New Guinea during World War II
A Librarian’s War is the untold story of Ray Trautman, the Greatest Generation’s librarian, who made reading central to the Allied fight in World War II and transformed the role of books in American life.
Outranked, underfunded, and underestimated, Trautman met constant obstacles. Having toured camps and bases around the world, he was fortified by first-hand impressions of how desperately soldiers craved stories. To give troops the bestsellers they wanted in the portable format they needed, he invented wallet-sized paperbacks called the “Armed Services Editions.” He also produced miniature magazines and created Overseas Comics. Trautman worked with famous publishers, cajoled bureaucrats, partnered with the American Library Association, and accepted support from anyone willing to offer it, including Eleanor Roosevelt. Along the way, he fought censorship, Congressional book bans, and book-resistant generals. He was nearly killed during the Battle of the Bulge while on a special assignment for Dwight Eisenhower to investigate reading needs in Europe. By war’s end, Trautman distributed half a billion books, magazines, and comics, creating the largest library system in the world.
After World War II, Trautman brought home the fight for the “forgotten reader.” He used his experience to advocate for rural libraries, recreational libraries in prisons, high-quality reading materials for the visually impaired, and literacy programs. He devoted his life to spreading the joy of reading because he knew from personal experience that there is no greater gift. A Librarian’s War places Trautman, the Greatest Generation’s librarian, where he deserves to be: at the center of the story.