BOOKS GO TO WAR

	CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., April 18 -- If you were an American
soldier in World War II nervously waiting to invade a beach in the
South Pacific, where would you find comfort?  How about in a book? 
	That's what writer James A. Michener and millions of other
U.S. servicemen did, thanks to a massive wartime effort known as the
Armed Services Editions (ASE's).  A student-curated exhibition
opening in the Rotunda at the University of Virginia on April 20
titled "Books Go to War" explores the ASE project, which provided
American GI's with more than a thousand titles to choose from in
specially-published paperbacks totaling more than 100 million
copies. 
	Armed Services Editions were oblong paperbacks published in
an unusual format; they look like modern mass-market paperbacks
turned sideways, with their spines on the short side. Printed on the
fast presses then used for Reader's Digest-sized pulp magazines,
they were made to fit easily inside a soldier's pocket.  The ASE's
tried to provide something for everyone who could read, according to
Daniel J. Miller, the undergraduate history major at U.Va. who
curated the exhibition.  Titles ranged from F. Scott Fitzgerald and
Margaret Mead classics to westerns such as "Danger Trail " and
science fiction thrillers like "When Worlds Collide."
	 Miller, working with U.Va. book historian Terry Belanger,
wrote to prominent politicians, writers, and actors for their
recollections of the ASE's.  He received a variety of responses to
his letters, and the exhibition will feature recollections by
writers Michener, Frederik Pohl, and others, as well as a generous
selection both of ASE's and the original books from which they were
derived.
	The ASE's had enormous emotional impact. Miller says that
through the paperbacks, many servicemen developed a new-found
respect for literature.  Some, like Michener and sci-fi author Pohl,
were inspired to write.  After reading ASE editions of Kenneth
Roberts's historical novels, Michener decided to write his own.
Other writers were affected by the ASE's in more subtle ways. In a
letter written for this exhibition, Pohl praises Hugh Gray Lieber's
"The Education of T.C.Mits" -- an acronym for "The Common Man in the
Streets" -- for introducing him to "the wonders of formal logic."
	Not everyone who fought in World War II remembers the ASE's,
Miller discovered. His exhibition includes letters from Chief
Justice Rehnquist, journalist Ben Bradlee, and others who simply
never encountered the ASE's during the war. And many who might have
remembered the ASE's have died.  "I received fewer responses
regarding the ASE's than I had hoped," says Miller. "It has led me
to the sad conclusion that those who remember this important period
of our nation's history are simply disappearing.  But it makes for
an interesting story to tell."
	The U.Va. Library has copies of almost all of the 1,322 ASE
titles, making it one of the largest surviving ASE collections.  The
exhibition also draws on the 300-ASE collection of the Book Arts
Press, a learning laboratory based at U.Va. that supports the study
of the history of the book. "Books Go to War" is the latest in an
ongoing series of exhibitions in the Rotunda organized by the Book
Arts Press, which is directed by Terry Belanger, University
Professor and Honorary Curator of Special Collections. 	
	"Miller was a student in one of my undergraduate history
classes last semester," says Belanger.  "He became interested in
ASE's, and he's done a wonderful job in putting together this
exhibition."  The loudest praise for ASE's comes from James
Michener.  In his letter to the undergraduate curator of "Books Go
to War," Michener wrote, "Whoever dreamed up this idea deserves a
national medal for he or she served our nation well."
	 Producing and distributing one of the largest number of
books in history was no simple matter.  The Council on Books in
Wartime, which organized the ASE project, faced the formidable task
of mobilizing the entire printing industry behind the effort. In
doing so the Council ensured that royalties of one cent would be
paid to the publisher and author of each book sold -- not a bad
profit for press runs that exceeded several hundred thousand
copies.  Furthermore, to calm publishers' fears that the ASE's would
flood the postwar civilian market, the ASE's were physically
designed not to last -- one reason why the ASE's themselves are so
hard to find. The sheer volume of the ASE's contributed to the
post-war boom in paperbacks that made names like Bantam and Pocket
Books household words.  Pohl notes in his letter, "The ASE books
played some part in the postwar growth of the American paperbound
book industry.  Or so my old friend [the publisher] Ian Ballantine
once told me." 
	The exhibition will remain up until Sept. 10. The Rotunda is
open from 9 a.m. to 4:45 p.m., seven days a week.
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April 17, 1996
	For additional information or interviews Daniel Miller or
Terry Belanger may be reached at (804) 924-8851.  Television
reporters should contact out TV News Office at (804) 924-7550.