Review of Tom Englehardt’s The End of Victory Culture Essay

Like m some(prenominal) young men of his propagation Tom Englehardt is the son of a World War II veterinary surgeon and was raised in the shadow of Allied success over japan and Germ any. It was an period of clearly evil enemies and clearly honorable victors. America was a winner, still according to Englehardt between 1945 and 1975 supremacy culture finish in America and he traces its decomposition with those years of generational loss and societal disillusionment to Vietnam, which was its graveyard for all to see (10). consort to Englehardts cover-jacket promotion, this remarkable and un pass judgment chronicle of our timereconstructs a half-century of the crumbling borderlands of American consciousnessa country living an afterlife amid the ruins of its national chronicle (cover-jacket). Further, he presents the question of whether in that respect is an imaginable America without enemies and without the story of their put to death and our triumph? (Cover-jacket).Perhap s since its publication in 1995 Englehardt has had a chance to don a hop on his version of American history and consider how it is that America has lived through its afterlife and despite incredible adversity continues to not just survive, but thrive. Englehardt begins his version of post-war American history with what can only be describe as the academically-required survey of All That Was Wrong With America. in that respect is a expectant value in discovering and analyzing policies and actions in a postmortem sense, for the obvious intellect of improving what worked and reworking what failed. in that location is a great disservice in reviewing history within the context and framework of contemporary thought and morality. The contributor gets Englehardts version of the European White Mans conquest of autochthonous Americans, the depredations of thrall and lynching, and the unworldly horror of American atomic destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. There is little, if any dou bt in any rational persons mind these were not exactly shining examples of Americana. But his recounting of these events raises questions he is unable to populaceage.First, and truly not callously, how long should America apologize, if that is what Englehardt demands? Second, with American pellucid destiny and the bombing of Japan, just exactly what were the alternatives at the time? Finally, with sla precise and the civil rights movement, where is the relevance to Englehardts central thesis? At any(prenominal) point realizations are made that we cannot undo historical fact, no function how unsavory the events were, and ultimately, as a person and as a nation we mustiness move on. Throughout his book Englehardt exhibits a not-so-subtle bias, evident from the onslaught and which must be taken into account.One need look no closer than the jacket promotion Englehardt is careful to use the word whacking in reference to Americas enemies, not defeat. Englehardt traces the success culture through the media, beginning with the World War II era Why We Fight documentaries and Hollywoods active war-time production of torpedo movies (51). In the post-war era pride in on- conceal westerns and war culture was any boys inheritance (52). Englehardt believes the culture was based on an linger that could touch all but the imagination in only the closely limited ways.Now for the send-off time since the earliest days of the European invasion of North America, the ambush (by nuclear weapons) threatened actual elimination (52). Again, Englehardt is careful to use the word invasion instead of migration or colony preferring to impart a negative connotation whenever possible. For him the war machine-industrial complex grew to monstrous proportions confidential information to the first real nuclear standoff in the Cuban rocket Crisis (52-3). Englehardt does not supply any reference to support his claim that cypher could rally Americans for such a war (53).Englehardt writes in a very disjointed manner, alternately discussing the bombing of Japan, the Korean War, communism and McCarthyism, and his father (73). He devotes chapters to childrens toys and his own collection of war figurines (85). He discusses the impact of television, and declares that by the end of the sixties war as myth and play seemed to confound been swept clean out of American culture (89). In the bridge circuit of less than thirty pages Englehardt manages to discuss, and apparently re later(a), Malcolm X, George Kennan, the Cold War, vampires, Broken Arrow, UFOs and The Incredible Shrinking Man (90-112).Apparently these all relate to the pronouncements of Malcolm X and Kennan, respectively the whole world knows that the white man cannot survive some other war and Kennan marking the spot where his own society threatened to border of some cliff (111-112). Englehardt continues his review of the media culture of the late fifties and sixties, at one time again in a very haphaz ard and distracting style. It seems he is readiness on throwing in every facet of American culture as if to miss any one item would spoil his entire recipe.The reader is left to his discourses of anti-communism and Cuba, juvenile delinquency, civil rights, Dobie Gillis, Mad Magazine, Bill Haley and the Comets, television advertising, uprise Without a Cause and Happy Days. His chapters read more like the answers to a huge game of Trivia Pursuit than any historical look of substance. All he is missing is the game cards question who contend Josh Randall in Wanted Dead or Alive? answer Steve McQueen (152). Somehow, according to Englehardt, it is all related to the demise of victory culture.When after well-nigh two hundred pages Englehardt finally decides to discuss Vietnam he does so with an expected emphasis on horrors and atrocities. But first he must take the reader through GI Joe (Englehardt takes pains to describe Hasbros late entry with Negro Joe and She-Joe), Sergeant Roc, K ennedy assassination conspiracy theory, and Fail skillful (175-187). Any review of substance of the war in Vietnam will by necessity be a huge undertaking, and Englehardt is not to be criticized for discussing what amounts to a worst of list of horrors that faced the Vietnamese, the American soldiers, and the American public.Unfortunately for Englehardt the mineshaft has been thoroughly mined and he brings no new information or analysis to the table. Vietnam was a tremendous media war in terms of coverage and ineradicable images. A few images, such as the young naked napalmed fille running in fright or the point-blank assassination of a captured Viet Cong soldier, seem to crystallize all of the horror and insanity of that war. Englehardt decides to provide the literary simile, with quotations from veterans describing the horrors and atrocities of My Lai and other villages.It is in a sense gratuitous and repetitious, and serves little resultant other than to reinforce the gene ral negativity of the entire book. Before Englehardt turns his fear to the Desert Storm/Desert Shield operations he first makes the point that previous military operations in Panama and Grenada were spare exhibits of force and quickly dismisses them as exaggerated, over referential event(s) (281).He prefaces his discussion of the Gulf War as (in) the new version of victory culture, the military spent no less time planning to control the screen than the battlefield, and the neutralization of a potentially oppositional media became a war goal (290). It is forever and a day remarkable that reporters and journalists who steadfastly claim they nominate either been manipulated or denied admittance manage to produce analytical and critical volumes assessing what they allegedly were not allowed to witness.Englehardt reaches the conclusion that in a sense the Gulf War was a reaction to the Japanese and European economic challenges in that it emphasized the leading-edge aspects of the co untrys two foremost exports arms and entertainment (295). Englehardt finishes his book by revisiting his admirer GI Joe, who has been running hard to survive in a staccato world (302). In closing he states what path out of the ruins whitethorn be neither Joe nor we understand (303). It is doubtful Englehardt is on anyones in short list of consultants to contact regarding the contemporary framework of war.His work is well-researched and thoroughly document with page upon page of footnotes and references. However what is telling is what is absent from his index. It reads like an encapsulation of American pop culture, as would be expected, with countless references to movies, television, and American icons. It reflects an insulated viewpoint of American culture of victory as seen only through American media. There is a much greater awareness of the geopolitical effects of any conflict, and it is difficult if not impossible to simply pigeon-hole war in out-of-date terms of American cultural heroes or victory.Ultimately he can take credit with the foresight to see the end of a culture of victory, but events since publication cod drastically changed the meaning of victory in war, and unfortunately decrease the relevance of his work. Todays battlefields in Iraq and Afghanistan reflect Americas greater engagement in a global War on Terror. There is little, if any similarity in the dangers faced today compared to previous military engagements or World Wars. spheric terrorism brings a previously unknown dimension to military theorists and analysts. surely there is a popular swell of support for the defeat, if not lacing of Osama bin Laden and the terrorists responsible for the death of civilian non-combatants. But there is less a sense of a desire for a victory culture as there is for a survival culture. Without formula as much Englehardt could stand for the premise, as any wise man would, that pacifism is preferred to war, and in war the victors are often vanq uished as well.That takes a world far different from the one that exists today. There is no doubt America is the superpower but it does not operate in a vacuum today there is a broader and stronger global law for peace than any American desire for victory in war. At the time of publication The End of Victory Culture may have reflected a confused world with paths not understood. Since September 11, 2001 events have given clarity to any confusion, and the path to safety and survival must be followed.