The YMCA at War - Collaboration and Conflict during the World Wars

The Young Men''s Christian Association (YMCA) is best known for its athletic and youth programs, a heritage that draws on its origins in 1844 to provide wholesome recreation to urban youth away from the moral decay of industrialized urban living. Before long, that uplift mission found a place in the American Civil War, and soon the Y had spread all over the world by the early twentieth century, and in every major war thereafter as well. The YMCA at War: Collaboration and Conflict during the World Wars is the first collection of scholarship to examine the YMCA''s efforts during the World Wars of the twentieth century, which proved to be a bastion of support to soldiers and civilians around the world. The YMCA deployed hundreds of thousands of its much-vaunted secretaries to support suffering civilians and ease soldiers'' wartime hardships. Joining forces with governments, other civic organizations, and individuals, the Y could be either an indispensable auxiliary or an arms-length nuisa