PRODUCE & CONSERVE, SHARE & PLAY SQUARE:...

PRODUCE & CONSERVE, SHARE & PLAY SQUARE: The Grocer & the Consumer on the Home-Front Battlefield During World War II edited by Barbara McLean Ward (Strawberry Banke Museum/Univeristy Press of New England: $24.95; 240 pp.). The catalogue of an exhibit at a New Hampshire museum, “Produce & Conserve” offers a look at a small neighborhood grocery in 1941-45: The store layout, posters and product labels seem less aggressive than their modern counterparts. An engaging series of essays focuses on the demands the federal government placed on consumers during the war, including ration books, Victory Gardens, meatless days and saving grease to be processed into glycerin for explosives.