Reviews for Military History of the United States: An Annotated Bibliography

The average rating for Military History of the United States: An Annotated Bibliography based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2021-04-19 00:00:00 Mark Gagnon This booklet somewhat confused me. I read this immediately after Orientalism, the acclaimed and reviled book by Edward Said, that uncovered how Western culture had created a derogatory image of the East that was the source and justification for colonialism and imperialism. With a title like "Occidentalism" you expect a study of the reverse movement, and Buruma and Margalit confirm that in their introduction. And indeed: they zoom in on various historical examples of resistance against the West, that have in common an image of that West as inhuman, barbaric and soulless. Regardless of whether this image is correct, it is indeed a finding that, for example, Russian slavophiles in the 19th century, Japanese militarist nationalists in the 1930s-1940s and the current Muslim fundamentalists cherish(ed) that image and use(d) it as justification for their fight. Paradoxically, Buruma and Margalit state that in many cases these 'Occidentalists' not only fully adopted and adopt Western technology, but were and are also ideologically inspired by Western thinkers: the Japanese by fascism and Nazism, the Muslim fundamentalists very often by Marxist-Leninist frameworks. They are certainly not the first to see that paradox. The anti-Western resistance may often be presented as a return to the own, original culture, it is clearly "contaminated" by the same West. What really struck me and also astonished me was that Buruma and Margalit constantly indicate German Romanticism from the 18th and 19th centuries as the source of this Occidentalism. And in the same line they call Hitler and Nazism the worst exponents of it. Excuse me? That’s a bit strange. Because both Romanticism as Nazism are typical Western products, aren’t they? We are hitting a conceptual knot, here. Because it is clear that Buruma and Margalit equalize Occidentalism, hatred of the West, with anti-modernism, resistance to modernity as it first took shape in the West. Obviously there is a kinship between the two and hence the confusion; but it would be better to make a certain distinction. That would at least make clear that not only German Romanticism is the source of Occidentalism, but that there were quite a few thinkers and writers with reactionary traits in France and Great Britain also (in this respect, Buruma and Margalit seem rather anti-Germanic, a form of "Germanotalism"?). In the end both currents, modernism (Enlightenment) and anti-modernism (Romantics), are intertwined aspects of Western identity and their dynamics form the engine of the cultural evolution in the West. This booklet is struggling with this conceptual knot, that is clear, and it is therefore not surprising that a term such as "Occidentalism" has never caught on. But of course, it does expose the particularly complex and paradoxical side of the interdependence between hatred against the West and opposition to modernity, and the adoption of modernist/Western conceptual frameworks and technology. In this interesting, yet too carelessly written book, you are not going to get a conclusive answer on this, and that’s a pity.

Review # 2 was written on 2020-03-14 00:00:00 Michael Vaughn Ian Buruma and Avishai Margalit outline 'Occidentalism' as an attempt to understand anti-westernism during the last century. In some ways this work resembles Pankaj Mishra's 'Age of Anger', which argued the Enlightenment replaced moral certainties of medieval religion with modern angst. Buruma says the technology that led the West to global domination in the 19th century was needed by the East to compete. Japan's emulative advances during the Meiji restoration and post-WWII periods are reviewed. Hitler's hatred of mechanization and embrace of its efficiencies is noted. The rise of Islamist militants is seen as a reaction to cosmopolitan capitalism and its native collaborators. Buruma begins with a survey of Occidentalism's urban face. Through history the city had been a symbol for greed and godlessness. The Tower of Babel, Juvenal's Rome and the dark satanic mills of Blake are examples given. In the 19th century, London and Paris were criticized by anti-semites Wagner and T.S. Eliot. The metropolis swallowed rural people and was filled with "rootless money-grubbers". Fascists and communists appropriated the theme. 1930's Tokyo and Shanghai became models of commercialism, stigmatized by native critics for displacing indigenous culture. Maoists in Shanghai, the Khmer Rouge in Phnom Penh and the Taliban in Kabul later conducted purges. Buruma traces the backlash towards liberal European dominance to the German romantic and Russian slavophile movements. Nazis and Bolsheviks alike sought the purifying power of fire and steel. The rise of pan-Arabism and Baathist movements were seen by some Muslims as cultural collusion with the west. The authors compare Marxist ideas about the fetish of commodities to Islamic understandings of idolatry. The ancient idols had been replaced by capitalism in the view of religious radicals. The battle between "heroes and merchants" is continued by middle eastern suicide bombers and millenarian movements. As reflected by an Afghan jihadi: "They love Pepsi, but we love death". Published in 2004 after 911, the concept of 'Occidentalism' may now seem interchangeable with anti-Americanism. This book finds it's roots in an earlier industrialization of peasants into factory workers. A lack of spiritual reconciliation became a toxic split between the East and West. Although it is possible to perceive this as a response to Edward Said's 'Orientalism', it is not a diametrical work. Said critiqued 19th century literary aspects of colonialism, and this addresses 20th century political reactions to modernity. While not as seminal, it is still a thoughtful summary. Buruma is a Dutch writer and journalist in NYC, and Margalit is an Israeli philosopher and professor.