Morale: A Story of the War of 1941-43

Leinster, Murray, 1896-1975Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.4

Word count: 63K words
Chapters: 7

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today. Morale: A Story of the War of 1941-43 by Murray Leinster. Author: Leinster, Murray, 1896-1975. Language: English. Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature. Release Date: Mar 28, 2007

Editor's review

Morale: A Story of the War of 1941-43 by Murray Leinster is a war narrative with a science-fiction bent, placing the abstract theme of morale in concrete situations against a future war backdrop. Leinster was adept at embedding technological imagination and observations of human nature within popular storytelling; the appeal of this book lies not in grand battle canvases but in how characters' circumstances reveal shifts in faith, discipline, and psychological endurance under wartime pressure. As a free electronic text from Project Gutenberg, it is short and plainly written, suitable as a sample of mid-twentieth-century American popular literature and war-themed writing, and as casual reading for those interested in early intersections of science fiction and war. Readers need not seek complete plot resolution; it is better appreciated as a short parable about how people sustain will in extreme environments.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in early crossovers of science fiction and war themes
Readers seeking a short popular fiction sample of twentieth-century American narrative style
Learners needing English short reading material who prefer straightforward plots
Beginning readers of war literature exploring morale and psychological themes

Not a good fit for

Military history readers expecting detailed war archives and authentic battle details
Literary readers who prefer long, complex ensemble casts and multi-threaded narratives
Readers with significant difficulty reading English originals and no translation support

Reading tips

Read through once to grasp how the theme of morale is presented through the plot, then revisit key characters' psychological turning points.
Read it alongside similar war-themed short stories, noting the balance between technological imagination and human portraiture.
Note specific scenes showing shifts in morale as you read, to form your own thematic judgment.
If English reading is difficult, learn the 1941-43 war background first to reduce comprehension barriers.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book a real war documentary or a fictional story?

The material indicates it is a narrative work titled Morale: A Story of the War of 1941-43, and Leinster was known for fiction and popular narrative. It is not a documentary-style war record; readers should approach its content and value as literary narrative rather than historical verification.

Can I read this book without experience with science fiction?

Yes. The text is plainly written and short, centered on morale and human psychological endurance, and does not rely on complex science-fiction settings. Even without familiarity with early science fiction, readers can follow the characters' situations and focus on human choices and perseverance under wartime pressure.

What should I note when reading the electronic edition?

This book is a free electronic text from Project Gutenberg and is in the public domain. Use a reader that supports English typesetting and note that the edition is in the original English; if citing, check specific passages rather than relying on the description.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Leinster, Murray, 1896-1975 Author

Murray Leinster (1896–1975) was an American science fiction writer whose real name was William Fitzgerald Jenkins. He was a prolific author of short stories and novels, and this site holds thirty-nine of his works, including The Mad Planet, The Pirates of Ersatz, The Machine That Saved The World, The Forgotten Planet, The Wailing Asteroid, The Invaders, The Runaway Skyscraper, and Scrimshaw. His science fiction often deals with interstellar adventure, strange planets, and technological speculation, with tightly plotted, boldly imaginative narratives that also reflect on human society and the conditions of survival; some works are also categorized as inspirational growth. Public information is limited, making biographical details difficult to describe, but the surviving works show his important place in twentieth-century American popular science fiction and his influence on later writers in the genre.