Now in its third edition, The American Culture of War presents a sweeping critical examination of every major American war since 1941: World War II, Korea, Vietnam, the First and Second Persian Gulf Wars, U.S. operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the war against ISIS. As he carefully considers the cultural forces that surrounded each military engagement, Adrian Lewis offers an original and provocative look at the motives, people and governments used to wage war, the discord among military personnel, the flawed political policies that guided military strategy, and the civilian perceptions that characterized each conflict. This third edition features:

A new structure focused more exclusively on the character and conduct of the wars themselves

Updates to account for the latest, evolving scholarship on these conflicts

An updated account of American military involvement in the Middle East, including the abrupt rise of ISIS

The new edition of The American Culture of War remains a comprehensive and essential resource for any student of American wartime conduct.

Table of contents:

PART I: Tradition and an Envisioned Future Collide

1 War and Culture: An Analytical Approach

2 The American Practice of War: Cultural Tenets

3 The Legacy of World War II: Man versus Machine

4 Truman, the Cold War, and the National Military Establishment, 1945–1950

5 The Korean War: The Opening Phases, 1950–1951

6 The Korean War: The Final Phases, 1951–1953

PART II: The Eff orts to Adapt to a Nuclear World

7 Eisenhower, the Cold War, and Massive Retaliation, 1953–1960

8 Kennedy, McNamara, and Artificial Limited War, 1961–1963

9 The Vietnam War: The Opening Phases, 1955–1967

10 The Vietnam War: The Final Phases, 1967–1975

PART III: The New American Practice of War: War Without the People

11 The Recovery and Reorganization of the Armed Forces of the United States, 1975–1990

12 The Persian Gulf War: Operation Desert Shield, 1990–1991

13 The Persian Gulf War: Operation Desert Storm, 1991

14 Bush’s Global War on Terrorism and Operation Enduring Freedom, 2001–2011

15 The Second Persian Gulf War: Operation Iraqi Freedom I, the Conventional War, 2003

16 The Second Persian Gulf War: Operation Iraqi Freedom II, the Nation-Building and Counterinsurgency War, 2003–2010

17 Epilogue: Citizenship and War