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Rarely is it a good idea for any field of human endeavor to be
dominated by a single theory aimed at addressing a pressing
problem. However, such dominance has recently occurred in the
American approach to counterinsurgency warfare. In recent years,
driven by the perceived failures in the American war in Iraq, the
United States military, and in particular the United States Army,
has determined that when it comes to counterinsurgency, the
population-centric approach is the only way to go. The
population-centric approach dominates the Army's capstone manual on
Counterinsurgency, Field Manual 3-24, a document published in late
2006 in order to help redress shortcomings in fighting the war in
Iraq.1 The driving force behind the manual, General David Petraeus,
took the principles contained therein with him to Iraq, applied
them during the famous surge of 2007-2008, and ultimately turned
that war around. According to this popular account, the
population-centric approach had been vindicated, and it became
something of received truth about how to prosecute
counterinsurgency.
World War II shaped the United States in profound ways, and this
new book--the first in the Legacies of War series--explores one of
the most significant changes it fostered: a dramatic increase in
ethnic and religious tolerance. "A Nation Forged in War" is the
first full-length study of how large-scale mobilization during the
Second World War helped to dissolve long-standing differences among
white soldiers of widely divergent backgrounds.
Never before or since have so many Americans served in the armed
forces at one time: more than 15 million donned uniforms in the
period from 1941 to 1945. Thomas Bruscino explores how these
soldiers' shared experiences--enduring basic training, living far
from home, engaging in combat--transformed their views of other
ethnic groups and religious traditions. He further examines how
specific military policies and practices worked to counteract old
prejudices, and he makes a persuasive case that throwing together
men of different regions, ethnicities, religions, and classes not
only fostered a greater sense of tolerance but also forged a new
American identity. When soldiers returned home after the war with
these new attitudes, they helped reorder what it meant to be white
in America.
Using the presidential campaigns of Al Smith in 1928 and John F.
Kennedy in 1960 as bookend events, Bruscino notes a key change in
religious bias. Smith's defeat came at the end of a campaign rife
with anti-Catholic sentiment; Kennedy's victory some three decades
later proved that such religious bigotry was no longer an
insurmountable obstacle. Despite such advances, Bruscino notes that
the growing broad-mindedness produced by the war had limits: it did
not extend to African Americans, whose own struggle for equality
would dramatically mark the postwar decades.
Extensively documented, "A Nation Forged in War" is one of the few
books on the social and cultural impact of the World War II years.
Scholars and students of military, ethnic, social, and religious
history will be fascinated by this groundbreaking new volume.
World War II shaped the United States in profound ways, and this
new book--the first in the Legacies of War series--explores one of
the most significant changes it fostered: a dramatic increase in
ethnic and religious tolerance. "A Nation Forged in War" is the
first full-length study of how large-scale mobilization during the
Second World War helped to dissolve long-standing differences among
white soldiers of widely divergent backgrounds.
Never before or since have so many Americans served in the armed
forces at one time: more than 15 million donned uniforms in the
period from 1941 to 1945. Thomas Bruscino explores how these
soldiers' shared experiences--enduring basic training, living far
from home, engaging in combat--transformed their views of other
ethnic groups and religious traditions. He further examines how
specific military policies and practices worked to counteract old
prejudices, and he makes a persuasive case that throwing together
men of different regions, ethnicities, religions, and classes not
only fostered a greater sense of tolerance but also forged a new
American identity. When soldiers returned home after the war with
these new attitudes, they helped reorder what it meant to be white
in America.
Using the presidential campaigns of Al Smith in 1928 and John F.
Kennedy in 1960 as bookend events, Bruscino notes a key change in
religious bias. Smith's defeat came at the end of a campaign rife
with anti-Catholic sentiment; Kennedy's victory some three decades
later proved that such religious bigotry was no longer an
insurmountable obstacle. Despite such advances, Bruscino notes that
the growing broad-mindedness produced by the war had limits: it did
not extend to African Americans, whose own struggle for equality
would dramatically mark the postwar decades.
Extensively documented, "A Nation Forged in War" is one of the few
books on the social and cultural impact of the World War II years.
Scholars and students of military, ethnic, social, and religious
history will be fascinated by this groundbreaking new volume.
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