Dear John: Love and Loyalty in Wartime America - Susan L. Carruthers

Author: Susan L. Carruthers

Publisher: Cambridge University Press; 1st edition

Cover Type: Hardcover

Pages: 336 pages

Language: English

Genre: History, Historical Study & Educational Resources

Genre Class: History, Military, History, General

Are Dear John letters lethal weapons in the hands of men at war? Many US officers, servicemen, veterans, and civilians would say yes. Drawing on personal letters, oral histories, and psychiatric reports, as well as popular music and movies, Susan L. Carruthers shows how the armed forces and civilian society have attempted to weaponize romantic love in pursuit of martial ends, from World War II to today. Yet efforts to discipline feeling have frequently failed. And women have often borne the blame. This sweeping history of emotional life in wartime explores the interplay between letter-writing and storytelling, breakups and breakdowns, and between imploded intimacy and boosted camaraderie. Incorporating vivid personal experiences in lively and engaging prose variously tragic, comic, and everything in between this compelling study will change the way we think about wartime relationships.

P> Review Susan L. Carruthers is an eloquent storyteller. She exposes not only the poignancy of love in times of war, but also how perceptions of girlfriends and wives as flight risks become powerful stimuli to male solidarity. A captivating history. Joanna Bourke, author of War and Art: A Visual History of Modern ConflictThis fast-moving journey through a century of soldiers heartbreak and rage at being dumped by their sweethearts reveals the psychological distance between the home front and the war theater, but even more tellingly illuminates the eternal war between men and women. Nancy F. Cott, author of Fighting Words: The Brave American Journalists Who Brought the World Home between the WarsWhether distraught, amused, or enraged, jilted GIs have long bonded as victims of betrayal. Susan L. Carrutherss marvellously written new book not only explores the origin and evolution of the Dear John letter, but illuminates the misogyny that often underlies this military brotherhood, the alleged correlation with suicide, and the impact on the writers of these infamous epistles. Brian McAllister Linn, author of Elviss Army: Cold War GIs and the Atomic BattlefieldDear John is, dare I say, a pleasure to read, in addition to being incisive regarding the gendering and biases built around the mythopoeia of the epistolary breakup. Carrutherss multidimensional interrogation of the wartime brushoff encompasses fictions, reality, sexual orientation, POWs, social media, and all manner of telling the loved one So long, see you never. This learned and relevant treatment is a unique and deeply researched addition to the literature of broken hearts. Anthony Swofford, author of Jarhead: A Marines Chronicle of the Gulf War and Other Battles an eye-opening study of wartime romances and breakups. Publishers WeeklyCarruthers makes a convincing case that the Dear John letter has helped make women, not war, the culprit for loves breakdown under pressure. Charlotte Gray, The Wall Street JournalHer account offers insights into a broader entanglement, involving the militarism that shores up modern nationhood; the emotional and sexual ties that sustain and can destroy men in the military; and the women on whom male soldiers have poured hatred as well as adoration. Julia Laite, London Review of Books Book Description A sweeping history of emotional life that explores how Dear John letters became a rite of passage for American servicemen. About the Author: Susan L. Carruthers is Professor of US and International History, University of Warwick. The author of six books, including The Good Occupation: American Soldiers and the Hazards of Peace, she taught for fifteen years at Rutgers University-Newark, and has held visiting fellowships at Harvard, Princeton, and the Woodrow Wilson Center. She was a finalist for the 2017 PEN Hessell-Tiltman prize.

• We ship across Australia, including major cities like: Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane, Adelaide, Canberra, Newcastle and the Gold Coast