Fiction

I'm reading (listening to) "Ghost Army of WW2". There was a whole army contingent whose assignment was to invent ways to deceive the enemy into thinking that thousands of soldiers, equipment, etc. were in a designated place, while the real army division moved around to surprise and overcome the Germans. It included artists, sound engineers, lots of people with ingenuity, to build inflatable tanks, paint camouflage, fake signs, record sounds of all kinds of equipment moving, sounds of bridge building, general movements of troops, send fake morse code and other radio messages. They were very effective in the final months of the war in Europe, from the Normandy landing to the very end. It was all highly secretive, of course, and only a very few of army officers even knew of it. Several of the artists went on to become successful and famous, including Dr. Seuss (he had another name.) It describes their ordeals of war as they moved from place to place though France. They were scarcely armed, and their assignments were often dangerous.

Others may have heard of this group, but I hadn't, and it is told in a very entertaining way. I think in this instance I would recommend trying to find the actual book, because apparently there are a lot of pages of the on-site drawings that the artists did in their off-time. One even carried around a tiny water-color set to record what he saw.

Another I am reading: "The Other Side of the Sun" by Madeleine D'Engle. Set in South Carolina, on a beach not too far from Charleston - after the Civil War. To me it is poetic and colorful. Involves race and class of the time, and generational secrets and stresses.

Edit: Sorry, didn't notice this was a fiction thread. Ghost Army is a true story.