Life on the American home front during the World Wars was popularly characterized as a time of unselfish sacrifice and unity of thought, action, and purpose, with countless productive hours spent in victory gardens, wash cellars, machine shops, and shipyards. This essay examines literary works that depict the experiences of those who fought behind the lines in various roles as mothers, wives, lovers, sons, daughters, laborers, white-collar workers, literati, draftees, internees, and revolutionaries. The essay offers critically and historically contextualized readings of twelve primary texts, including works by Willa Cather, Edith Wharton, Gertrude Atherton, Dorothy Canfield Fisher, Upton Sinclair, William Cunningham, Alice Dunbar-Nelson, John Joseph Matthews, Saul Bellow, Chester Himes, Ann Petry, Hariette Arnow, Jade Snow Wong, and John Okada.
