Collateral Damage: Americans, Noncombatant Immunity, and Atrocity after World War II / Edition 1

by Sahr Conway-Lanz

Overview

"Collateral damage" is a military term for the inadvertent casualties and destruction inflicted on civilians in the course of military operations. In Collateral Damage: Americans, Noncombatant Immunity, and Atrocity after World War II, Sahr Conway-Lanz chronicles the history of America's attempt to reconcile the ideal of sparing civilians with the reality that modern warfare results in the killing of innocent people. Drawing on policymakers' response to the issues raised by the atrocities of World War II and the use of the atomic bomb, as well as the ongoing debate by the American public and the media as the Korean War developed, Conway-Lanz provides a comprehensive examination of modern American discourse on the topic of civilian casualties and provides a fascinating look at the development of what is now commonly known as collateral damage.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780415978293
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	03/31/2006
Edition description:	ANN
Pages:	294
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

About the Author

Sahr Conway-Lanz is a historian and archivist. He holds a Ph.D. in the history of American foreign relations from Harvard University.

Read an Excerpt

"Collateral damage" is a military term for the inadvertent casualties and destruction inflicted on civilians in the course of military operations. In Collateral Damage: Americans, Noncombatant Immunity, and Atrocity after World War II, Sahr Conway-Lanz chronicles the history of America’s attempt to reconcile the ideal of sparing civilians with the reality that modern warfare results in the killing of innocent people. Drawing on policymakers’ response to the issues raised by the atrocities of World War II and the use of the atomic bomb, as well as the ongoing debate by the American public and the media as the Korean War developed, Conway-Lanz provides a comprehensive examination of modern American discourse on the topic of civilian casualties and provides a fascinating look at the development of what is now commonly known as collateral damage.

Table of Contents

1. Modern War and Mass Killing 2. The Revolt of the Admirals and the Limits of Mass Destruction 3. The Hydrogen Bomb and the Limits of Noncombatant Immunity 4. A "Limited" War in Korea 5. Taming the Bomb 6. Korean Refugees and Warnings 7. The Thermonuclear Challenge 8. The Uneasy Reconciliation

What People are Saying About This

Frank Ninkovich

"Sahr Conway-Lanz's Collateral Damage explores in an extraordinarily insightful manner the ways in which Americans in the cold war era sought to reconcile the brutal nature of modern warfare with humane values. That alone would make it an important contribution to our understanding of modern international relations, but it has the added virtue of illuminating present day-concerns-a sure sign of historical writing at its finest."
—author of The Wilsonian Century: U.S. Foreign Policy since 1900

Akira Iriye

"A valuable and timely contribution to examining one of the most serious and enduring dilemmas of the contemporary world."
—author of Global Community: The Role of International Organizations in the Making of the Contemporary World

Ernest R. May

"An arresting and moving study, which demonstrates how hard it is, in modern warfare, for even the best-intentioned leaders to avoid barbarous cruelty to innocent civilians."
—co-author of Thinking in Time: The Uses of History for Decision-Makers