Disposable Heroes: The Betrayal of African American Veterans [Hardcover]

For many soldiers, the end of military service signals a cruel and new beginning.Disposable Heroesilluminates the challenges facing many veterans, particularly African Americans. Rather than finding military service to be a path to equality and upward mobility, these veterans fight just to survive. The book draws on in-depth interviews and national survey data to show the ways America is failing many black veterans today.

Author Benjamin Fleury-Steiner shares the remarkable stories of 30 veterans from Vietnam to Iraq and Afghanistan. Their words illustrate the ongoing impact of explicit racial oppression such as Jim Crow segregation, white backlash against integration, and racially targeted criminal justice policies. The book traces the persistent role of racial inequalities in African American veterans lives before service, during active duty, and particularly after military life. Taken together, the stories inDisposable Heroespaint a compelling story of hope, struggle, and survival.

Disposable Heroesmakes a powerful case for ending Americas longstanding war at homeenduring unemployment, deficient health care, and substandard housingthat continue to plague many urban African American communities in the United States today, with particular attention to challenges of African American veterans.

The U.S. military has traditionally been seen as an avenue of economic advancement for African-Americans, especially low-income men seeking to escape poverty. Fleury-Steiner, a Gulf War veteran and a University of Delaware assistant professor of sociology and criminal justice, upends this truism in thirty l“#