Delaware's experience in the Great War was that of an awakening. What had been a pastoral collection of farms and merchants was rapidly transformed into a dynamic, economically thriving society. From the immense munitions contribution of the DuPont Company to burgeoning shipbuilding on the Wilmington waterfront, the First State took a leading role in meeting the war's industrial demand. It fortified coastal defenses and thwarted U-boat attacks on its coast. Its men and women learned of valor and sacrifice as thousands of native sons fought in Europe and daughters volunteered on the homefront. Author Kennard R. Wiggins Jr. traces the history that changed the state forever.

As World War II raged across the world, the lives of every Delawarean changed. Whether wearing a uniform, working in the shipyards and factories that supported the war effort, or volunteering for service organizations, the citizens of Delaware met the challenge of wartime living. Delaware in World War II celebrates the heroism and bravery of those who fought the war on the home front. From school children collecting scrap metal to first-time women factory workers building airplanes, this collection of over 200 photographs examines the many facets of daily life during this tumultuous time. These provocative images show a society united against a common cause and citizens willing to change their lives for a common good. The photographs in this volume were selected from the records of the Delaware Public Archives, including some never before seen images that illustrate a special piece of American history.

When driving south along the Delaware Atlantic Coast between Rehoboth and Bethany, several concrete towers, weathered by the ocean, can be seen on the beach. They are symbols of a nation at war, built to safeguard the Atlantic Coast from a German sea invasion during World War II. When the towers were built, there were soldiers stationed along the coast and even a German POW camp. McKenna is a young woman living with her family in Ocean View, Delaware during World War II. Her lifeand the lives of the people she lovesis turned upside down by the arrival of a young man named Kurt. Kurt grew up in Germany. With the rise of Hitler, his father moved quickly up the military ranks, so Kurt was eventually expected to do the same. He begrudgingly became a German spy. Undercover in America, Kurts loyalties wander, especially when he meets McKenna. Fighting the darkness of war, they find light in each other, but how can Kurt love her while living a lie? Its time to make a choice: will he forsake the woman he loves or the country he serves? The horrors of war are wrought with difficult decisions as Kurt and McKenna struggle through tragedy, patriotism, and the power of self-discovery.

In the years preceding the Civil War, Delaware was essentially divided--as a slave state, it had many ties to the South, but as the first state to ratify the federal Constitution, it was fiercely loyal to the Union. With the outbreak of war, the First State rallied to Lincoln's call and sent proportionally more troops to fight for the Union than any free state. Yet even as the renowned Du Pont mills provided half of the Union gunpowder, Southern sympathizers transported war materiel to the Confederacy via the Nanticoke River. Author Michael Morgan deftly navigates this complex history. From Wilmington abolitionist Thomas Garrett, who helped 2,700 fugitive slaves flee north, to the prison camp at Fort Delaware that held thousands of captured Confederates and political prisoners, Morgan reveals the remarkable stories of the heroes and scoundrels of Civil War Delaware.

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