LEGACIES: Stories from the Second World War was chosen by The Veterans History Project as a featured selection at the National Book Festival in Washington D.C. This is an original anthology of firsthand accounts of the war based on Tom Swope's award-winning radio show. War is more than facts and figures. War is a series of unique moments experienced by individuals and LEGACIES gives these men and women an opportunity to tell their stories in their own words. These are the stories you seldom find in official accounts, featuring personal recollections from interviews recorded by Swope, previously unpublished diaries and essays and rarely seen photos and graphics from veterans collections. Their generation is fading away, but their stories must be remembered. These were ordinary people who lived during an extraordinary time.
About the Author: Tom Swope has worked in broadcasting as a disc jockey, announcer and producer for more than thirty years. In Boulder, Colorado, Swope co-hosted talk shows and was one of the producers, writers and performers on the nationally syndicated show, The Radio Stew Comedy Hour. He also worked in Los Angeles on several independent radio and television productions. Swope's writing credits include a collection of essays entitled Confessions of a Housedaddy, published in Manic Moms. He was a Senior Writer for the Cleveland music magazine, Music's Bottom Line, where he wrote reviews and essays and interviewed classic rockers. More than twenty of his interviews are in The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Library & Archives. In 2001, Swope began interviewing veterans for The Library of Congress. He has recorded oral histories from more than 500 veterans and was honored as one of the top contributors to The Veterans History Project in 2005. Thirteen of Tom's interviews are featured in a Library of Congress companion webcast to the Ken Burns' series, The War. Stories from two other interviews are part of a permanent audio exhibit at the Normandy-American Cemetery (located on a bluff overlooking Omaha Beach in France). LEGACIES: Stories from the Second World War is based on the radio series created and hosted by Tom Swope and broadcast on stations in the Cleveland, Ohio market since 2001. The show can also be heard on Sunday nights at www.radiooncemore.com LEGACIES has received two Ohio Excellence in Journalism Awards and was named 'Best Radio Show in Northeast Ohio' at the March of Dimes A.I.R. Awards.