cover image Paying with Their Bodies: American War and the Problem of the Disabled Veteran

Paying with Their Bodies: American War and the Problem of the Disabled Veteran

John M. Kinder. Univ. of Chicago, $30 (368p) ISBN 978-0-226-21009-4

Kinder, an American Studies professor at Oklahoma State University, offers a cultural history of America’s disabled veterans from the Civil War to today’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Concentrating on 20th-century wars above all—with particular attention paid to WWI—Kinder zeroes on what he calls the “Problem of the Disabled Veteran”: that is, how the nation deals with its war wounded and what political lessons are to be drawn from the social effects of the vast numbers of disabled veterans. Kinder identifies two main political “fantasies” involved in the problem: the generally pro-war view that the U.S. can remain a global military power “without incurring the social, economic, and physical consequences associated with veterans’ disabilities,” and the anti-war belief “that Americans will permanently reject war because of the risks to soldiers’ bodies and minds.” Both fantasies are false, Kinder says, and he mixes in sketches of well-known disabled veterans—including Harold Russell (WWII), Ron Kovic (the Vietnam War), and Tammy Duckworth (the Iraq War)—with bigger-picture issues involving the social and political impacts of veterans’ disabilities. It’s a well-written, though academically tinged, tome that illuminates the long-lasting human legacy of America’s wars. [em](Apr.) [/em]