Research Catalog

Title

Traumatic defeat : POWs, MIAs, and national mythmaking / Patrick Gallagher.

Author

Gallagher, Patrick, 1979-

Publication

• Lawrence, Kansas : University Press of Kansas, [2018]
• ©2018

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

viii, 200 pages; 24 cm

Summary

"Traumatic Defeat is a comparative study of wartime and postwar Prisoner of War (POW) and Missing in Action (MIA) activism and politics in Germany after World War II and the US after the Vietnam War. Patrick Gallagher argues that under certain circumstances, a postwar form of national mythology develops, derived from POW/MIA activism and the belief that substantial numbers of MIAs continue to survive in secret captivity after war's end. He refers to this phenomenon as the "secret camp myth," after the covert facilities in which these missing men supposedly survive. Gallagher demonstrates that these two parallel cases of national trauma over prisoners and the missing demonstrate how wars can breed mythologies that, if not satisfied, can take on lives of their own and come to dominate national conversations on the history of warfare, aftermath, and defeat."--Provided by publisher.

Alternative Title

• Prisoners of war, missing in action and national mythmaking
• POWs, MIAs, and national mythmaking

Subject

• Vietnam War (1961-1975)
• World War (1939-1945)
• 1900-1999
• Prisoners of war > Germany > History > 20th century
• Loss (Psychology) > Political aspects > Case studies
• War > Psychological aspects > Case studies
• Conspiracy theories > Case studies
• Collective memory > Case studies
• World War, 1939-1945 > Missing in action > Germany
• World War, 1939-1945 > Prisoners and prisons, Soviet
• Prisoners of war > United States > History > 20th century
• Vietnam War, 1961-1975 > Prisoners and prisons, North Vietnamese
• Vietnam War, 1961-1975 > Missing in action > United States
• Collective memory
• Conspiracy theories
• Missing in action
• Prisoners of war
• War > Psychological aspects
• Germany
• United States

Genre/Form

• Case studies.
• History.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references and index.

Contents

Germany's war on the Eastern Front, and the origins of its secret camp myth -- The short-lived German secret camp myth -- Missing Americans in Southeast Asia and the origins of POW/MIA activism -- Radicalization of POW/MIA advocacy and the emergence of the secret camp myth -- High-water mark of the secret camp myth -- Conclusion.

Call Number

JFE 18-6157

ISBN

• 9780700626441
• 0700626441

LCCN

2018004670

OCLC

1012617303

Author

Gallagher, Patrick, 1979- author.

Title

Traumatic defeat : POWs, MIAs, and national mythmaking / Patrick Gallagher.

Publisher

Lawrence, Kansas : University Press of Kansas, [2018]

Copyright Date

©2018

Type of Content

text

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Chronological Term

1900-1999

Research Call Number

JFE 18-6157