Talk:Social history of soldiers and veterans in the United States

Latest comment: 1 month ago by Rjensen in topic Social history of soldiers and veterans

Social history of soldiers and veterans

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In US history there has always been a wide divide between popular historians and academic ones regarding wars and military history . Academics will spend enormous energy studying the cause of a war, then quit when the shooting starts. When I was in graduate school, two of my professors had written leading histories of the Air Force and Navy in World War II--that was their role when in uniform. When they came back to the University they never mentioned that experience or encouraged anything like it for dissertations. That became my perspective too, but when my wife started writing the history of women in military service, my perspective changed, and I became interested in the social and economic history of soldiers and veterans in the United States. Wikipedia represents the non-academic view of military history, with its excellent and deep coverage of strategy, tactics and munitions. All the famous battles are right here. I have the ambition of helping to close the gap somewhat, by drafting this new article on Social history of soldiers and veterans in the United States. Thus far, I am up to the 1790s. I hope to continue it chronologically into the late 20th century. I. would welcome any comments or suggestions. Rjensen (talk) 23:14, 10 September 2024 (UTC)Reply