In the Shadow of War: The United States since the 1930s.

• Author: Riddle, Wesley Allen

In his new book, In the Shadow of War' Michael S. Sherry describes and explains the process of militarization that has fundamentally transformed American life since the 1930s. He explores the myriad ways in which war has shaped--indeed, distorted--American politics, economics, foreign policy, culture, and social relations. The voluminous and growing literature has needed this synthesis for some time, and Sherry's book will serve as a benchmark for future scholarly inquiry, refinement, and comparison.

Sherry argues that a half-century of anxiety about the nation's safety has brought about comprehensive qualitative change, which he attributes to a broad but unique historical process he calls militarization. He is critical of that change, but his sentiments are mixed. For instance, while decrying the militarization of policymaking and economic activity, he supports some social liberation spin-offs such as feminism and gay rights, although he would prefer that social progress had been accomplished in the name of "justice" rather than national security (p. 154). His critique of militarization ranges widely but, oddly, he reserves righteous anger for the ugly hypermasculinity that accompanies a few of its social aspects. Sherry's preferences and prejudices in this regard signal a central difficulty, which is that the historical process he names, and hence his critique of the changes attributed to it. includes too much.

For instance, Sherry strains to link the Tailhook episode to post-Gulf War machismo (p. 478). Detailed "connections between patriotism and sexual aggression" (p. 352) verge on psychobabble. The attempt to link relaxed immigration quotas to "the crisis of militarization" (pp. 154, 42829; chap. 5) demonstrates how operative definitions become meaningless when framed too broadly. Militarization in such expansive form turns into both sides of nearly every coin. At one point, Sherry actually asserts that "everything that defines a nation...became annexed to this historical process" (p. 499). It may be easier to prove a thesis when all phenomena are embraced by it, but the reader is left bewildered. Still, notwithstanding definitional overreach, Sherry weaves many important observations into an impressive narrative.

Sherry recounts how society organized itself for the production of violence, then shows how the ends--total war, victory--became consuming. Militarization affected the broadest areas of American life, even the nation's...