Military Service and American Democracy

From World War II to the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars

William A. Taylor (Autor)

Buch | Softcover

302 Seiten

2020
University Press of Kansas (Verlag)
978-0-7006-3040-0 (ISBN)

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Chronicles and analyses the long and ever-changing history of the often contentious and controversial effort to extend eligibility for miltary service, from the initiation of America's first peacetime draft just before our entry into World War II up to present-day conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“When I became secretary of defense,” Ashton B. Carter said when announcing that the Pentagon would open all combat jobs to women, “I made a commitment to building America’s force of the future. In the twenty-first century, that requires drawing strength from the broadest possible pool of talent.”

That “pool of talent”—and how our nation’s civilian and military leaders have tried to fill it—is what Military Service and American Democracy is all about. William Taylor chronicles and analyzes the long and ever-changing history of that often contentious and controversial effort, from the initiation of America’s first peacetime draft just before our entry into World War II up to present-day conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. A history that runs from the selective service era of 1940–1973 through the era of the All-Volunteer Force of 1973 to the present, his book details the many personnel policies that have shaped, controlled, and defined American military service over the last eight decades. Exploring the individual and group identities excluded from official personnel policy over time—African Americans, women, and gays among others—Taylor shows how military service has been an arena of contested citizenship, one in which American values have been tested, questioned, and ultimately redefined. Yet, we see how this process has resulted in greater inclusiveness and expanded opportunities in military service while encouraging and shaping similar changes in broader society.

In the distinction between compulsory and voluntary military service, Taylor also examines the dichotomy between national security and individual liberty—two competing ideals that have existed in constant tension throughout the history of American democracy.

William A. Taylor, assistant professor in the Department of Security Studies at Angelo State University, is a former Marine Corps officer who held posts in III Marine Expeditionary Force, Expeditionary Force Development Center, and Marine Corps Combat Development Command. He is the author of Every Citizen a Soldier: The Campaign for Universal Military Training after World War II, which won a 2015 Crader Family Book Prize Honorable Mention.

List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
List of Abbreviations and Acronyms
1. Camp Red Cloud
2. The Selective Service Idea
3. A Sound and Democratic Principle
4. Freedom to Serve
5. Who Serves When Not All Serve?
6. Conscription Is a Tax
7. More Than Ever Before
8. To Serve in Silence
9. An Uneasy Relationship
10. The Nation's Conscience
Individuals of Note
Chronology
Note on Sources
About the Author
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index

Erscheinungsdatum	03.06.2020
Verlagsort	Kansas
Sprache	englisch
Maße	154 x 233 mm
Gewicht	434 g
Themenwelt	Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Geschichte / Politik ► Allgemeines / Lexika
	Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Regional- / Ländergeschichte
	Geschichte ► Teilgebiete der Geschichte ► Militärgeschichte
	Sozialwissenschaften ► Politik / Verwaltung ► Staat / Verwaltung
ISBN-10	0-7006-3040-6 / 0700630406
ISBN-13	978-0-7006-3040-0 / 9780700630400
Zustand	Neuware