Introduction. Warrior heroes and sexual conquerors; 1. Macho pulp and the American cold war man; 2. My father's war: the allure of World War II and Korea; 3. The imagined 'savage' woman; 4. The Vietnamese reality; 5. War and sexual violence come to Vietnam; Conclusion. Male veterans remember their war.
Explores how Cold War men's magazines idealized warrior-heroes and sexual-conquerors and normalized conceptions of martial masculinity.
Gregory A. Daddis is a professor of history and the USS Midway Chair in Modern US Military History at San Diego State University. A retired US Army colonel, he has served in both Operations Desert Storm and Iraqi Freedom. He has authored four books, including Withdrawal: Reassessing America's Final Years in Vietnam (2017).
'This brilliantly analyzed history dismantles masculine archetypes
portrayed by media during the Vietnam War. Daddis explores the ways
fantasy images of war have been perpetuated throughout history and
have given young men unrealistic, warped views on masculinity.' Ken
Burns and Lynn Novick, Co-Directors of The Vietnam War
'Hitherto overlooked among 'the things they carried' in Vietnam
were thousands of pulp magazines. Daddis scrupulously dissects the
delusions of supremacy - sexual, racial, and martial - comic books
fueled, with disastrous results for both American soldiers and
Vietnamese civilians. A richly illustrated, coruscating exposé of
toxic masculinity at its most lethal.' Susan L. Carruthers, author
of The Good Occupation: American Soldiers and the Hazards of
Peace
'A disturbing yet vital study that renders transparent the
connection between pop culture and 'martial masculinity' during the
Vietnam War. American GIs were woefully misled by these 'macho
pulps' that helped plant toxic ideals of manhood, and the
Vietnamese (friend or foe, and particularly women) would pay for
this dangerous melding of war and sex.' Lien-Hang T. Nguyen, author
of Hanoi's War: An International History of the War for Peace in
Vietnam
'In Pulp Vietnam, Gregory A. Daddis brilliantly explores the
strange, gaudy, and wildly misleading cultural baggage innumerable
American soldiers carried through the jungles and rice paddies of
the Vietnam War. Steeped in the imagery of pulp magazines
during the 1950s and early 1960s, thousands of young men were
encouraged to conflate hypermasculine heroism with the prospect of
sexual conquest and sexual reward. In clear, measured, meticulously
composed sentences, Daddis levers open a new and important window
on the American war in Vietnam, a window through which the reader
may glimpse the psychological origins of debacle, disappointment,
betrayed expectations, cartoonish fantasies, wartime travesties,
and postwar nightmares.' Tim O'Brien, author of The Things They
Carried
'In Cold War men's adventure magazines, all the men were brawny,
virile, and victorious, and all the women were beautiful, buxom,
and willing. In an insightful blend of military, gender, and
cultural history, Pulp Vietnam reveals the dangerous ways these
fantasies collided in a war that failed to measure up to GIs'
expectations.' Kara Dixon Vuic, author of The Girls Next Door:
Bringing the Home Front to the Front Lines
'Pulp Vietnam is a wonderful contribution to the literature on Cold
War culture, the Vietnam War, and American gender and sexuality.
This book is a good model of what scholars can accomplish when they
branch out of their comfort zones, bridge fields, and talk to one
another.' Amy J. Rutenberg, H-Diplo
'... Daddis clearly makes the case for the uncomfortable impact of
these peculiar magazines and the need for further study. How did
these popular magazines shape the ways in which soldiers of an
integrated army understood one another? Did the combination of
whiteness and violence enflame the racial tensions soldiers brought
with them to Vietnam? Daddis's study opens up a host of
possibilities for further inquiry ...' Nicholas Utzig, The Los
Angeles Review of Books
'… Pulp Vietnam examines an overlooked piece of Cold War culture
and explains how it helped create real-world forms of violence.'
Kyle Burke, Pacific Historical Review
'… a valuable and worthy book that also carries particular
significance for our ideas about gender and masculinity today.'
Matthew Barrett, Canadian Military History
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