Human stories

Discover the stories of the people whose lives have shaped, and been shaped by Anglo-American collaboration since the First World War.

B-25 Mitchell in American Air Museum ©IWM
STORY

Joseph Heller, Catch-22 and the Second World War

Published in 1961 by American author Joseph Heller, Catch-22 is a satirical novel. Although Heller claimed it was a work of fiction, many of the characters and events in the book are parallel’s to Heller’s experience of the Second World War.
BRITISH HYDROGEN BOMB TESTS AT CHRISTMAS ISLAND, 1962 - 1963 ©IWM (CT 284)
STORY

Would you push the nuclear button?

During the Cold War, global super powers dealt with the prospect of devastating nuclear consequences by adopting a strategy of mutually assured destruction. Suggesting that you might be willing to ‘press the nuclear button’ had considerable global consequences
Locals and United States troops meet at the Dove Inn, Burton Bradstock, Dorset, 1944. ©IWM (D 20142)
STORY

A Welcome to Britain

The film A Welcome to Britain presents a guide to British society, behaviour and wartime conditions and was made for American troops arriving in the UK prior to the Normandy Landings.