BOOK REVIEW

Title: Good Morning, Mr. Zip Zip Zip

Author: Richard Schickel

In ten words or less: Film critic recalls growing up in 1940s Milwaukee.

Review: Critic Schickel grew up in the Milwaukee suburb of Wauwatosa in the 1940s. He weaves stories of his middle class WASP existence into the larger story of life in America during World War II. Yet another story is told by the films produced during this era.
Schickel disagrees with Tom Brokaw and others who argue that the "Greatest Generation" had "some mystical connection between the dumb, dutiful decency of the average American and the great and necessary moral task they accomplished, which was, of course, the defeat of absolute and unprecedented evil." Schickel points out the racism at home, and the scant attention paid to the Holocaust while it was happening.

Why bother? Fantastic memoir that film fans will love.