Growing up during the Second World War, H. Bruce Franklin believed what he was told: that America’s victory would lead to a new era of world peace. But once he joined the Air Force and began flying top-secret missions as a navigator and intelligence officer, he saw that even as U.S. leaders preached high ideals of peace and freedom, in reality the country was engaging in an endless cycle of warfare, bringing devastation and oppression to fledgling democracies across the globe. In “Crash Course: From the Good War to the Forever War,” Bruce draws from his 50 years as a renowned cultural historian to share his hard-learned lessons about the real American history. In this installment of “Leonard Lopate at Large” on WBAI, H. Bruce Franklin joins us for a sobering discussion on the modern history of American military action.

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