Why did America invade Iraq? Why do nations choose to fight certain
wars and not others? How do we bring ourselves to believe that the
sacrifice of our troops is acceptable? For most, the answers to these
questions are tied to struggles for power or resources and the
machinations of particular interest groups. Philip Smith argues that
this realist answer to the age-old "why war?" question is
insufficient. Instead, Smith suggests that every war has its roots in
the ways we tell and interpret stories. Comprised of case studies of
the War in Iraq, the Gulf War, and the Suez Crisis, Why War? decodes
the cultural logic of the narratives that justify military action.
Each nation, Smith argues, makes use of binary codes—good and evil,
sacred and profane, rational and irrational, to name a few. These
codes, in the hands of political leaders, activists, and the media,
are deployed within four different types of narratives—mundane,
tragic, romantic, or apocalyptic. With this cultural system, Smith is
able to radically recast our "war stories" and show how nations can
have vastly different understandings of crises as each identifies the
relevant protagonists and antagonists, objects of struggle, and
threats and dangers. The large-scale sacrifice of human lives
necessary in modern war, according to Smith, requires an apocalyptic
vision of world events. In the case of the War in Iraq, for example,
he argues that the United States and Britain replicated a narrative of
impending global doom from the Gulf War. But in their apocalyptic
account they mistakenly made the now seemingly toothless Saddam
Hussein once again a symbol of evil by writing him into the story
alongside al Qaeda, resulting in the war's contestation in the United
States, Britain, and abroad. Offering an innovative approach to
understanding how major wars are packaged, sold, and understood, Why
War? will be applauded by anyone with an interest in military history,
political science, cultural studies, and communication.
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Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9780226763910
Publisert
2018
Utgave
1. utgave
Utgiver
Vendor
University of Chicago Press
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Forfatter