Warring over Valor

How Race and Gender Shaped American Military Heroism in the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries

Edited by Simon Wendt

SERIES: War Culture

Rutgers University Press

By focusing on how the idea of heroism on the battlefield helped construct, perpetuate, and challenge racial and gender hierarchies in the United States between World War I and the present, Warring over Valor provides fresh perspectives on the history of American military heroism. The book offers two major insights into the history of military heroism. First, it reveals a precarious ambiguity in the efforts of minorities such as African Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans, women, and gay men to be recognized as heroic soldiers. Paradoxically, America’s heroism discourse allowed them to press their case for full membership in the nation, but doing so simultaneously validated the dichotomous interpretations of race and gender they repudiated. The ambiguous role of marginalized groups in war-related hero-making processes also testifies to this volume’s second general insight: the durability and tenacity of the masculine warrior hero in U.S. society and culture. Warring over Valor bridges a gap in the historiography of heroism and military affairs.

This intriguing volume demonstrates how marginalized groups’ identities and experiences were shaped by the hegemonic white, masculine warrior image. The essays are well-researched and simply fascinating. Edwin A. Martini, author of Agent Orange: History, Science, and the Politics of Uncertainty

This book sheds light on what people see as the normal hero, while at the same time showing that there are many other deserving people that are heroes and don’t get the same recognition. Communication Booknotes Quarterly

This intriguing volume demonstrates how marginalized groups’ identities and experiences were shaped by the hegemonic white, masculine warrior image. The essays are well-researched and simply fascinating. Edwin A. Martini, author of Agent Orange: History, Science, and the Politics of Uncertainty

This book sheds light on what people see as the normal hero, while at the same time showing that there are many other deserving people that are heroes and don’t get the same recognition. Communication Booknotes Quarterly

This work is highly recommended to anyone seeking a nuanced grasp of the complicated milieu of military heroism, marginalized groups, and the vital intersections between them.' William A. Taylor, Marine Corps History

SIMON WENDT is an associate professor of American studies at the Goethe University of Frankfurt in Germany. He is the author or coeditor of several books, including The Spirit and the Shotgun: Armed Resistance and the Struggle for Civil Rights.

Contents
Introduction: Reconsidering Military Heroism in American History
Simon Wendt
Chapter 1: The End of Military Heroism? The American Legion and “Service” Between the Wars
George Lewis
Chapter 2: GI Joe Nisei: The Invention of World War II’s Iconic Japanese American Soldier
Ellen D. Wu
Chapter 3: Instrument of Subjugation or Avenue for Liberation? Black Military Heroism from World War II to the Vietnam War
Simon Wendt
Chapter 4: “Warriors in Uniform”: Race, Masculinity, and Martial Valor among Native American Veterans from the Great War to Vietnam and Beyond
Matthias Voigt
Chapter 5: My Lai: The Crisis of American Military Heroism in the Vietnam War
Steve Estes
Chapter 6: Leonard Matlovich: From Military Hero to Gay Rights Poster Boy
Simon Hall
Chapter 7: Displaying Heroism: Media Images of the Weary Soldier in World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War
Amy Lucker
Chapter 8: “From Louboutins to Combat Boots”? The Negotiation of a Twenty-First-Century Female Warrior Image in American Popular Culture and Literature
Sarah Makeschin
Chapter 9: From Warrior to Soldier? Lakota Veterans on Military Valor
Sonja John
Chapter 10: Virtual Warfare: Video Games, Drones, and the Reimagination of Heroic Masculinity
Carrie Andersen
Acknowledgments
Notes on Contributors
Index

Related Titles