War Time An Idea, Its History, Its Consequences [Hardcover]

On the surface, wartime is a period of time in which a society is at war. But we now live in what President Obama has called an age without surrender ceremonies, where it is no longer easy to distinguish between times of war and times of peace.

In this inventive meditation on war, time, and the law, Mary Dudziak argues that wartime is not as discrete a time period as we like to think. Instead, America has been engaged in some form of ongoing overseas armed conflict for over a century. Meanwhile policy makers and the American public continue to view wars as exceptional events that eventually give way to normal peace times. This has two consequences: first, because war is thought to be exceptional, wartime remains a shorthand argument justifying extreme actions like torture and detention without trial; and second, ongoing warfare is enabled by the inattention of the American people. More disconnected than ever from the wars their nation is fighting, public disengagement leaves us without political restraints on the exercise of American war powers.

Table of Contents
Introduction
1. What Time is It?
2. When Was World War II?
3. What Kind of War Was the Cold War?
4. What is a War on Terror?
Conclusion

[Mary Dudziak's] essential argument is persuasive and her contribution is significant. She helps explain why national security continues to have such influence on American politics, why the US continues to field such a large military establishment, and why this country exercises such influence and engages in such frequent interventions in world politics. --Journal of American History

Thoughtful, compelling, and concise. --H-War

Closely argued and clearly written, this is a scholarly work with popular appeal. --Publishers Weekly

For over a decade since 9/11, U.S. forces have been waging war. Yet is the nation itself 'at war'? In this timely and provocative book, Mary DudlS¥