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Cover image of Doughboys, the Great War, and the Remaking of America
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Doughboys, the Great War, and the Remaking of America

Jennifer D. Keene

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How does a democratic government conscript citizens, turn them into soldiers who can fight effectively against a highly trained enemy, and then somehow reward these troops for their service? In Doughboys, the Great War, and the Remaking of America, Jennifer D. Keene argues that the doughboy experience in 1917–18 forged the U.S. Army of the twentieth century and ultimately led to the most sweeping piece of social-welfare legislation in the nation's history—the G.I. Bill.

Keene shows how citizen-soldiers established standards of discipline that the army in a sense had to adopt. Even after these...

How does a democratic government conscript citizens, turn them into soldiers who can fight effectively against a highly trained enemy, and then somehow reward these troops for their service? In Doughboys, the Great War, and the Remaking of America, Jennifer D. Keene argues that the doughboy experience in 1917–18 forged the U.S. Army of the twentieth century and ultimately led to the most sweeping piece of social-welfare legislation in the nation's history—the G.I. Bill.

Keene shows how citizen-soldiers established standards of discipline that the army in a sense had to adopt. Even after these troops had returned to civilian life, lessons learned by the army during its first experience with a mass conscripted force continued to influence the military as an institution. The experience of going into uniform and fighting abroad politicized citizen-soldiers, Keene finally argues, in ways she asks us to ponder. She finds that the country and the conscripts—in their view—entered into a certain social compact, one that assured veterans that the federal government owed conscripted soldiers of the twentieth century debts far in excess of the pensions the Grand Army of the Republic had claimed in the late nineteenth century.

Reviews

Reviews

Jennifer D. Keene [has] illuminated these once unknown soldiers through scholarship of startling originality and insight.

Keene's work deserves an audience not only among scholars of military history and international relations but also among those interested in questions of race, social welfare, labor, and the relationship between the individual citizen and the state in the twentieth century.

Clearly written and magnificently researched... In the book's best passages Keene's Doughboys force the federal government to re-examine the relationship between itself and its citizen soldiers.

This book is a valuable contribution to the history of World War I.

Superb history of American soldiers during and after World War I... Full of rich, new material and original and fresh insights, all presented in a lively and engaging style.

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Book Details

Publication Date
Status
Available
Trim Size
6
x
9
Pages
320
ISBN
9780801874468
Illustration Description
15 halftones, 3 line drawings
Table of Contents

Introduction
Chapter 1. A Force to Call Our Own: Establishing the National Army
Chapter 2. Americans as Warriors
Chapter 3. The Meaning of Obedience
Chapter 4. The Politics of Race: Racial Violence and

Introduction
Chapter 1. A Force to Call Our Own: Establishing the National Army
Chapter 2. Americans as Warriors
Chapter 3. The Meaning of Obedience
Chapter 4. The Politics of Race: Racial Violence and Harmony in the Wartime Army
Chapter 5. Forging Their Own Alliances: American Soldier's Relations with the French and Germans
Chapter 6. The Legacy of the War for the Army
Chapter 7. War Memories: Re-Examining the Social Contract
Chapter 8. 'The Yanks Are Starving Everywhere': The Bonus MarchEpilogue - The War's Final Legacy for the Country: The GI Bill
Bibliographic Essay

Author Bio
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Jennifer D. Keene

Jennifer D. Keene is an associate professor of history at the University of Redlands in Redlands, California.