Book on class disconnect in American society
New book I just stumbled across, AWOL : The Unexcused Absence of America's Upper Classes from Military Service -- and How It Hurts Our Country, may be another interesting take on an issue we all know and love – the current under-representation of the “elite” in the military (vs. e.g. stronger showing in WWII).
Has anyone read it? If not, any thoughts just on the premise?
From its “how it hurts the country” tagline, I presume it goes on to address what it means. The disconnect is harmful to the integration of all the instruments of national power in the execution of our foreign policy and national security strategy.
Below seen on a mailing list, and posted here with permission of the author, Kathy Roth-Douquet.
Quote:
Some of you may remember I asked for help about a year ago on a book I was writing about the disconnect between the military and the professional/academic/opinion-making classes. Many of you did help, and are quoted in that book, titled "AWOL: The Unexcused Absence of America's Upper Classes from Military Service - And How It Hurts the Country" (coauthored by Frank Schaeffer, Collins Books/HarperCollins), released this month.
The title alone stirs up much controversy, most of which is addressed in the book - what do we mean by "upper classes," does this disconnect really exist, does it matter if it does? We use the current academic research and survey work on these subjects, some historical analysis, and many anectdotes, our own and others, to tell the story. I'm a Bryn Mawr and Princeton (WWS) alum, former Clinton White House staffer, married to a Marine officer, my co-auther is a filmmaker and best-selling novelist whose son enlisted.
Our forward is by Tommy Franks, cover blurbs by Sen John McCain, Tom Brokaw, Les Palm, and Mike O'Hanlon of Brookings. Publisher's weekly calls AWOL "a convincing, impassioned manifesto." We will be on the Today Show, Bill O'Reilly, Diane Rehm and Hardball, scheduled so far.
More information is at my website:
www.roth-douquet.com. There is more information, and a sample chapter there.
Respectfully,
Kathy Roth-Douquet
In this paper, war heroes are MIA
LA Times Op-Ed from Frank Schaeffer, the co-author of the book mentioned at the start of this thread.
Quote:
DURING THE last two weeks, the Los Angeles Times has printed at least four front-page articles, and several others on inside pages, about a Marine squad accused of killing 24 Iraqi civilians in Haditha and possibly falsifying reports about the incident.
.....
I have no problem with reporting on the military's occasional failures. But it's unfair and out of context when, at the same time, editors at our best papers ignore much more routine acts of individual heroism that balance this grim picture.
Cox and Forkum on This Commentary
Please look around the SWC...
Maphu - I have to ask you to take 120mm's advice and spend some time getting to know the Council before making knee-jerk assumptions.
You'll find there is quite a knowledgeable and experienced group of individuals here. While open-minded and representative of many sides of the pressing issues that face us - they all share one thing in common - they do not suffer fools and ask that opinions be backed by facts and / or personal first-hand knowledge.
Thanks.