Military History, Life & Values
(see also Military Recruitment, Militarism: US & Europe, Militarization of Foreign Policy, Spanish American War, World War I, World War II: Europe, World War II: Pacific, Korean War, Vietnam War, Gulf War, US-Afghan War, US-Iraq War, American Empire)
Wanted: A Few Good Vets. David Broder, Washington Post (11/11/03).
Pentagon Targets Latinos & Mexicans to Man the Front Lines in War on Terror. Andrew Gumbel, Independent (9/10/03).
Army of One. Take Back the Media (sum 03).
The Empire Strikes Back: Tribal Rites of America's Military Leaders. Ian Urbina, Village Voice (1/29/03).
Friendly Fire Deaths Linked to US Pilots on "Speed", Andrew Buncombe, Independent (8/3/02).
On the Web: Specialized Sites
American Forces Information Service (Department of Defense).
Jim Dunnigan's Dirty Little Secrets.
John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center & School.
Servicemembers' Legal Defense Network. Monitors enforcement of "don't ask, don't tell" policy regarding gays & lesbians in the military.
US Army Rangers.
In the Library: Articles
Adeboyejo, Betsy. "Women in the military face increasing opportunity & risk," Crisis (5-7/03):7-8.
Baker, Kevin. "We're in the army now," Harper's (10/03):35-46. GOP's plan to spread military culture.
Boyer, Peter J. "A different war: is the Army becoming irrelevant?" New Yorker (7/1/02):54-67. Focus on Army Chief of Staff, Gen. Eric K. Shinseki.
Brownstein, Ronald. "Volunteer force: is it truly fair?" LA Times (12/6/90). Minorities & poor whites provide a high percentage of recruits.
Bynum, Russ. "Returning to civilian life," San Jose Mercury (10/7/03):6A. Army offers mandatory postwar counseling for soldiers returning from Iraq.
Collins, Joseph J. "The complex context of American military culture: a practitioner's view," Washington Quarterly 21,4 (fall 98):213-29.
Graham, Catherine. "Military spoof 'Buffalo Soliders' caught in inhospitable times," Santa Cruz Sentinel (9/12/03):B-2.
Harman, Danna. "As more reservists & guardsmen head to Iraq, relatives find comfort together," Christian Science Monitor (11/26/03):17.
Knickerbocker, Brad. "Iraq war's human toll could be felt for decades," Christian Science Monitor (10/1/03):4.
Krugman, Paul. "GIs have a new enemy: the food bean-counters," San Jose Mercury News (8/12/03): 6B.
Jones, Arthur. "Officer fired for 'moral duty' in Haiti," National Catholic Reporter (5/26/95).
Lindorff, Dave & James Ridgeway. "Feeling the draft," Village Voice (12/25/90). On the impact of conscription vs. volunteer recruitment on military life.
Rocawich, Linda. "The general in charge," Progressive (1/91). Portrait of Gen. Norman Schwartzkopf.
Schafer, Susanne M. "Unconventional warfare has military recruiting civilians for Special Forces," Santa Cruz Sentinal (7/7/03).
Schemo, Diana Jean. "Report: Air force ignored rapes," San Jose Mercury News (9/23/03):6A.
Tyson, Scott Ann. "Uzbek or Dari? military learns new tongues," Christian Science Monitor (1/1-2/04):3.
Vest, Jason. "The army's empire skeptics," Nation (3/3/03): 27-30. Officers raising serious questions about manpower, morale and technology.
Vidal, Gore. "West Point," NY Review of Books (10/18/73).
Wallace-Wells, Benjamin. "Corps voters," Washington Monthly (11/03):33-39.
In the Library: Non-Fiction Books
Appy, Christian G. Working-Class War: American Combat Soldiers & Vietnam (Chapel Hill: U. North Carolina, 1993).
Carney, Colonel John T, Jr. & Benjamin F. Schemmer. No Room for Error: The Convert Operations of America's Special Tactics Units from Iran to Afghanistan (NY: Ballantine, 2002).
Cleaver, Richard & Patricia Myers. A Certain Terror: Heterosexism, Militarism, Violence & Change (Chicago: American Friends Service Committee, 1993).
Cohen, Eliot A. Citizens & Soldiers: The Dilemmas of Military Service (Ithaca: Cornell, 1985).
Cortright, David. Soldiers in Revolt: the American Military Today (NY: Anchor, 1975). GI resistance in Vietnam.
Coughlin, Jack & Casey Kuhlman with Donald A. Davis. Shooter (NY: St. Martin's, 2005). Autobiography of a Marine sniper.
Cox, Harvey (ed.) Military Chaplains: From Religious Military to a Military Religion (NY: American Report, 1973).
Donohue, John J. Warrior Dreams: The Martial Arts & the American Imagination (Westport CT: Bergin & Garvey, 1994).
Enloe, Cynthia. Maneuvers. The International Politics of Militarizing Women's Lives (Berkeley: U. California, 2000).
Francke, Linda Bird. Ground Zero: The Gender Wars in the Military (NY: Simon & Schuster, 1997).
Galloway, K. Bruce & Robert Bowie Johnson, Jr. West Point: America's Power Fraternity (NY: Simon & Schuster, 1973).
Gibson, James W. Warrior Dreams. Paramilitary Culture in Post-Vietnam America (NY: Hill & Wang, 1994).
Goff, Stan. Hideous Dream: A Soldier's Memoir of the US Invasion of Haiti (?: Soft Skull, 2000).
Haney, Eric L. Inside Delta Force: The Story of America's Elite Counterterrorist Unit (NY: Delacorte, 2002).
Hedges, Chris. War is a Force that Gives Us Meaning (NY: Public Affairs, 2002).
__________. What Every Person Should Know About War (NY: Free Press, 2003).
Hirshon, Stanley. General Patton (NY: Harper Collins, 2003).
Jensen, Joan. Army Surveillance in America, 1775-1980 (New Haven: Yale, 1991).
Kaplan, Robert D. Imperial Grunts: The American Military on the Ground (NY: Random House, 2005).
Katzenstein, Mary Fainsod. Faithful & Fearless: Moving Feminist Protest inside the Church & the Military (Princeton: Princeton U, 199?).
Lanning, Michael Lee. Blood Warriors: American Military Elites (NY: Ballantine, 2002).
Lutz, Catherine. Homefront. A Military City & the American 20th Century (Boston, 2001).
Moskos, Charles C. & John Sibley Butler (eds.) All that We Can Be: Black Leadership & Racial Integration the Army Way (NY: Basic Books, 1996).
__________; John Allen Williams & David R. Segal (eds.) The Postmodern Military: Armed Forces After the Cold War (NY: Oxford, 2000).
Nadelson, Theodore. Trained to Kill: Soldiers at War (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins, 2005).
Schmidt, Hans. Maverick Marine: General Smedley D. Butler & the Contradictions of American Military History (Lexington: U. of Kentucky, 1987).
Slomovitz, Albert Isaac. The Fighting Rabbis: Jewish Military Chaplains & American History (NY: NYU, 2002).
Southworth, Samuel A. U.S. Special Forces. A Complete Guide to the World's Most Elite Fighting Force (NY: Da Capo, 2002).
Stiehm, Judith H. The US Army War College: Military Education in a Democracy (Philadelphia: Temple, 2002).
Swofford, Anthony. Jarhead: A Marine's Chronicle of the Gulf War & Other Battles (NY: Scribner, 2003).
Swomley, John M. The Military Establishment (Boston: Beacon, 1964).
Tauber, Peter. The Sunshine Soldiers [1971] (Higganum CT: 2003).
US Army. Ranger Handbook (Fort Benning: Ranger Training Brigade, 1992).
In the Library: Fiction
Alston, E.B. Those Whom the Gods Love (Timberlake NC: Righter, 2005). Race & violence around Camp Lejeune in 60s.
Heller, Joseph. Catch-22 (NY, 1955 & many subsequent editions). Unique novel, both hilarious & horrifying in exploration of US Air Force life in last months of World War II.
McCullers, Carson. Reflections in a Golden Eye (
CD & Audio:
Film & Video:
"Antwone Fisher" [2002], dir. Denzel Washington, 113m. In video stores.
"Anybody's Son Will Do" [1983], by National Film Board of Canada, 60m. From Films Inc. US Marine recruiting & training at Parris Island, SC, & deployment for war.
"Buffalo Soldiers," [2003], dir. Gregor Jordan, ??m.
"Courage Under Fire" [1996], dir. Edward Zwick, 117m. In video stores.
"Crimson Tide" [1995], dir. Tony Scott, 116m. In video stores.
"Fire on the Mountain" [1995], dir. Beth Gage & George Gage, 72m. From First Run Features. Documentary on US Army 10th Mountain Division, winter mountain fighting unit.
"Full Metal Jacket" [1987], dir. Stanley Kubrick, 116m. In video stores. Searing portrait of Marine basic training at Parris Island, & combat in Vietnam.
"Platoon" [1986], dir. Oliver Stone, 120m. In video stores. Harrowing first-person portrayal of life on front lines in Vietnam.
"The Profession of Arms" [1983], by National Film Board of Canada, 60m. From Films Inc. Interviews career officers from US, Israeli, Soviet & Canadian forces.
"Reflections in a Golden Eye" [1967], dir. John Huston, 108m. In video stores.
"A Soldier's Girl" [2003], dir. Frank Pierson, 112m. In video stores. Documentary love story of Barry Winchell, US soldier murdered by barracks-mates in homophobic hate crime in 1999, & transgendered Navy vet Calpernia Addams/Scottie.
"A Soldier's Story" [1984], dir. Norman Jewison, 101m. In video stores.
"Tunes of Glory" [1960], dir. Ronald Neame, 106m. Drama set in British military officer corps.