Embattled Glory (eBook)

Veterans, Military Families, and the Politics of Patriotism in China, 1949-2007

Neil J. Diamant (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2010
480 Seiten
Rowman & Littlefield Publishers (Verlag)
978-0-7425-5768-0 (ISBN)

Infos

This groundbreaking book offers the first in-depth, large-scale study of People's Liberation Army veterans and military families. Neil Diamant's penetrating examination of the treatment of PLA veterans in China opens a distinctive window onto Chinese patriotism, citizenship, and legitimacy. Using recently declassified archival documents and employing a comparative perspective, the book provides an unprecedented look at the "everyday interactions" among veterans, military families, state officials, and ordinary citizens as they attempted to secure urban residence, jobs, spouses, medical care, and respect as patriots.

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This groundbreaking book examines the treatment of veterans of the Peoples Liberation Army and military families as an illuminating window into Chinese patriotism, citizenship, and legitimacy. Using a wealth of recently declassified archival documents and employing a wide comparative perspective, Neil J. Diamant presents the first large-scale study of these groups in comparison to similar populations in other parts of Asia and in the West. He offers an unprecedented look at the everyday interactions among veterans, military families, state officials, and ordinary citizens as they attempted to secure urban residence, jobs, spouses, medical care, and respect. Often celebrated by the government for their glorious and patriotic service, veterans and military families were the beneficiaries of many policies, such as affirmative action in hiring and access to political power. But, the author asks, if veteran and military families were heroic, why did many of them compare their situation to donkeys slaughtered after grinding the wheat and tossed-away dirty socks? And what explains the thousands of suicides among veterans, rampant discrimination, and ongoing protests against the government? By comparing veterans in China to their counterparts in the United States, the Soviet Union, Israel, and elsewhere, this book provides important answers to the larger question of what circumstances lead to better or worse treatment of veterans, and what this treatment tells us about patriotism, legitimacy, and respect for military service.

Autor

Neil J. Diamant is associate professor of Asian law and society and chair of the Department of Political Science at Dickinson College.

Inhalt

Chapter 1: IntroductionChapter 2: To the City or Bust: Veterans and the Quest for Urban CitizenshipChapter 3: The Complications of Veteran IdentitiesChapter 4: The Job FrontChapter 5: Stuck in the State's Cement and Falling Through Its Cracks: Veterans in Policy and BureaucracyChapter 6: Vulnerable Heroes: Veterans' Heath, Family, and Sexuality in Chinese PoliticsChapter 7: Between Glory and Welfare: Military Families, the State, and CommunityChapter 8: Salt in the Wounds: Veterans in the Reform Era, 1978–2007Chapter 9: Conclusion: Walter Reed, Iraq, and ChinaAppendix A: A Brief Survey of Archival Materials in ChinaAppendix B: Selected Character ListAppendix C: Source Materials

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 16.1.2010
• Reihe/Serie: State & Society in East Asia
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Freizeit / Hobby ► Sammeln / Sammlerkataloge
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Regional- / Ländergeschichte
• Themenwelt: Naturwissenschaften
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Soziologie ► Spezielle Soziologien
• Schlagworte: Asian Studies • China Studies
• ISBN-10: 0-7425-5768-5 / 0742557685
• ISBN-13: 978-0-7425-5768-0 / 9780742557680