In the era of an all-volunteer military fighting ceaseless wars, caring for and deferring to the traumatized soldier has become a core facet of force protection on two levels. Nadia Ablukhaj: American troops were people of a heightened moral sensibility, traumatized because that strong moral code had encountered evil in the world. Next episode, we'll be discussing the contours of this new American militarism and how it all hides in plain sight to reproduce and protect American militarism.
Featuring Nadia Abu El-Haj on Combat Trauma: Imaginaries of War and Citizenship in Post-9/11 America. A truly remarkable book about the unseen ideological foundations of American militarism: American civilians are enjoined to venerate troops, deferring to their traumatized positionality. The first in a two-part interview.
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Buy: Fighting in a World on Fire by Andreas Malm versobooks.com/books/4138-fighting-in-a-world-on-fire
The Sinking Middle Class: A Political History of Debt, Misery, and the Drift to the Right by David Roediger haymarketbooks.org/books/1879-the-sinking-middle-class