The Puritan Culture of America's Military

The Puritan Culture of America's Military PDF Author: Ronald Lorenzo
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317018486
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 252

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Book Description
This book explores Puritanism and its continuing influence on U.S. and military law in the Global War on Terror, exploring connections between Puritanism and notions of responsibility in relation to military crimes, superstitious practices within the military, and urges for revenge. Engaging with the work of figures such as Durkheim, Fauconnet and Weber, it draws on primary data gathered through participation and observation at the U.S. Army courts-martial following events at Abu Ghraib, Operation Iron Triangle, the Baghdad canal killings and a war crimes case in Afghanistan, to show how Puritan cultural habits color and shape both American military actions and the ways in which these actions are perceived by the American public. A theoretically sophisticated examination of the cultural tendencies that shape military conduct and justice in the context of a contemporary global conflict, The Puritan Culture of America’s Military will appeal to scholars across the social sciences with interests in social theory and sociology, cultural studies, politics and international relations and military studies.

The Puritan Culture of America's Military

The Puritan Culture of America's Military PDF Author: Ronald Lorenzo
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317018486
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 252

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book explores Puritanism and its continuing influence on U.S. and military law in the Global War on Terror, exploring connections between Puritanism and notions of responsibility in relation to military crimes, superstitious practices within the military, and urges for revenge. Engaging with the work of figures such as Durkheim, Fauconnet and Weber, it draws on primary data gathered through participation and observation at the U.S. Army courts-martial following events at Abu Ghraib, Operation Iron Triangle, the Baghdad canal killings and a war crimes case in Afghanistan, to show how Puritan cultural habits color and shape both American military actions and the ways in which these actions are perceived by the American public. A theoretically sophisticated examination of the cultural tendencies that shape military conduct and justice in the context of a contemporary global conflict, The Puritan Culture of America’s Military will appeal to scholars across the social sciences with interests in social theory and sociology, cultural studies, politics and international relations and military studies.

Miles Standish, the Puritan Captain

Miles Standish, the Puritan Captain PDF Author: John S. C. Abbott
Publisher: Good Press
ISBN:
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 232

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Book Description
Miles Standish, the Puritan Captain is a historical biography written by John S.C. Abbott. Standish was an English military officer who accompanied the Pilgrims on the Mayflower and played a substantial role in the early colonization of modern-day Massachusetts.

Puritan Military Justice

Puritan Military Justice PDF Author: Ronald Lorenzo
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
Exploring Puritanical cultural habits in the 21st century American military, the following study focuses on U.S. Army courts-martial in the Global War on Terrorism. The study uses Emile Durkheim's original sociological interpretation of crime and deviance. That interpretation is linked with responsibility as described by Durkheim's follower Paul Fauconnet in Responsibility: A Study in Sociology ([1928] 1978) and with a new cultural reading of Max Weber's The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism ([1905] 1976). The study is an inductive, descriptive examination of the Puritanical aspects of American military culture based on its treatment of acts labeled as deviant and criminal in the Global War on Terrorism. Four sets of war crimes are included in the study: Abu Ghraib (which occurred in Iraq in 2004), Operation Iron Triangle (which occurred in Iraq in 2006), the Baghdad canal killings (which occurred in Iraq in 2007), and the Maywand District killings (which occurred in Afghanistan in 2010). My data include primary data collected through participation and observation as a consultant for courts-martial related to all the cases except Abu Ghraib. Records of trial, investigation reports, charge sheets, sworn statements, and other documentation are also included in the study as secondary data sources. The study illuminates how unconscious, Puritan cultural habits color and shape both military actions and their perceptions. I explore Puritanism and its influence on military law, responsibility, revenge, "magic" (in its sociological sense), and narcissism. The study concludes with observations and recommendations for changes in U.S. military law.

The Puritan Gift

The Puritan Gift PDF Author: Kenneth Hopper
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 0857715976
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 360

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Book Description
Where does the Protestant work ethic come from? And how did America achieve such dominance in management for so long? "The Puritan Gift" traces the origins and the characteristics of American managerial culture which, in the course of three centuries, turned a group of small colonies into the greatest economic and political power on earth. It argues that the drive, energy and acceptance of innovation, competition, growth and social mobility, all of which lie at the root of America's management culture, have their origins in the discipline and ethos of America's first wave of European immigrants: the Puritans.And, the authors warn, as Americans distance themselves from the core values which produced their business and economic successes during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, they put their future prosperity and security at risk. This is an original exploration of the dramatic and far-reaching consequences of the Puritans' 'gift' to America - the ethos which produced the early success of America and what came to be known as the American dream.

U.S. Strategic Culture and the Puritan Tradition

U.S. Strategic Culture and the Puritan Tradition PDF Author: Emily K. Beckett
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Puritans
Languages : en
Pages : 198

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Book Description
Strategic culture is a vitally important, yet overlooked research program within strategic studies. Too often policymakers fail to consider the strategic culture of other nations as well as that of their own nation before making decisions. This failure often leads to conflict within international relations. This study shows that religion, specifically the Puritan tradition of seventeenth century American, is the main source of U.S. strategic culture. The Puritan tradition has influenced four major elements of modern U.S. strategic culture -- American exceptionalism, the "can do" mentality, unlimited aims in military operations, and the belief that war is both abnormal and evil behavior. These elements in turn have manifested themselves in U.S. applications of force around the world. This study argues that because of the influence of the Puritan religious tradition in U.S. strategic culture, the United States is not solely prone to uses of military force which conform to secular considerations of realpolitik. Rather, the United States demonstrates its religious influence by engaging in uses of military force that are either humanitarian or crusade-like in nature. Understanding strategic culture provides valuable insight into the mindset, reasoning, and decision-making of oneself, allies, and adversaries alike.

Puritanism: A Very Short Introduction

Puritanism: A Very Short Introduction PDF Author: Francis J. Bremer
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199740879
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 138

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Book Description
Written by a leading expert on the Puritans, this brief, informative volume offers a wealth of background on this key religious movement. This book traces the shaping, triumph, and decline of the Puritan world, while also examining the role of religion in the shaping of American society and the role of the Puritan legacy in American history. Francis J. Bremer discusses the rise of Puritanism in the English Reformation, the struggle of the reformers to purge what they viewed as the corruptions of Roman Catholicism from the Elizabethan church, and the struggle with the Stuart monarchs that led to a brief Puritan triumph under Oliver Cromwell. It also examines the effort of Puritans who left England to establish a godly kingdom in America. Bremer examines puritan theology, views on family and community, their beliefs about the proper relationship between religion and public life, the limits of toleration, the balance between individual rights and one's obligation to others, and the extent to which public character should be shaped by private religious belief. About the Series: Combining authority with wit, accessibility, and style, Very Short Introductions offer an introduction to some of life's most interesting topics. Written by experts for the newcomer, they demonstrate the finest contemporary thinking about the central problems and issues in hundreds of key topics, from philosophy to Freud, quantum theory to Islam.

Puritanism in America

Puritanism in America PDF Author: Larzer Ziff
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Puritans
Languages : en
Pages : 338

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Book Description


Albion's Seed

Albion's Seed PDF Author: David Hackett Fischer
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 019974369X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 981

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Book Description
This fascinating book is the first volume in a projected cultural history of the United States, from the earliest English settlements to our own time. It is a history of American folkways as they have changed through time, and it argues a thesis about the importance for the United States of having been British in its cultural origins. While most people in the United States today have no British ancestors, they have assimilated regional cultures which were created by British colonists, even while preserving ethnic identities at the same time. In this sense, nearly all Americans are "Albion's Seed," no matter what their ethnicity may be. The concluding section of this remarkable book explores the ways that regional cultures have continued to dominate national politics from 1789 to 1988, and still help to shape attitudes toward education, government, gender, and violence, on which differences between American regions are greater than between European nations.

City on a Hill

City on a Hill PDF Author: Abram C. Van Engen
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300252315
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 390

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Book Description
A fresh, original history of America’s national narratives, told through the loss, recovery, and rise of one influential Puritan sermon from 1630 to the present day In this illuminating book, Abram Van Engen shows how the phrase “City on a Hill,” from a 1630 sermon by Massachusetts Bay governor John Winthrop, shaped the story of American exceptionalism in the twentieth century. By tracing the history of Winthrop’s speech, its changing status throughout time, and its use in modern politics, Van Engen asks us to reevaluate our national narratives. He tells the story of curators, librarians, collectors, archivists, antiquarians, and often anonymous figures who emphasized the role of the Pilgrims and Puritans in American history, paving the way for the saving and sanctifying of a single sermon. This sermon’s rags-to-riches rise reveals the way national stories take shape and shows us how those tales continue to influence competing visions of the country—the many different meanings of America that emerge from its literary past.

Puritans Behaving Badly

Puritans Behaving Badly PDF Author: Monica D. Fitzgerald
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 110880506X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 193

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Book Description
Tracing the first three generations in Puritan New England, this book explores changes in language, gender expectations, and religious identities for men and women. The book argues that laypeople shaped gender conventions by challenging the ideas of ministers and rectifying more traditional ideas of masculinity and femininity. Although Puritan's emphasis on spiritual equality had the opportunity to radically alter gender roles, in daily practice laymen censured men and women differently – punishing men for public behavior that threatened the peace of their communities, and women for private sins that allegedly revealed their spiritual corruption. In order to retain their public masculine identity, men altered the original mission of Puritanism, infusing gender into the construction of religious ideas about public service, the creation of the individual, and the gendering of separate spheres. With these practices, Puritans transformed their 'errand into the wilderness' and the normative Puritan became female.