Actions for America's captives : treatment of POWs from the Revolutionary War to the War on Terror

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America's captives : treatment of POWs from the Revolutionary War to the War on Terror / Paul J. Springer

Author
Springer, Paul J.
Published
Lawrence, Kan. : University Press of Kansas, [2010]
Copyright Date
©2010
Physical Description
viii, 278 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.

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Series
Contents
Introduction : American POW policy and practice -- Struggling into existence : the American Revolution -- The first declared war : the War of 1812 -- Prisoners on foreign soil : the war against Mexico -- Brother against brother : the American Civil War -- America becomes a world power, 1865-1919 -- America becomes a superpower : World War II -- Containing communism : the Korean War -- The dominoes begin to fall : the Vietnam War -- POW policy in the post-Cold War era -- Conclusion : the future of American POW policy.
Summary
"As the United States continues to grapple with how to handle prisoners produced by our global conflict with terrorists. Paul Springer reminds us that this effort is only the most recent chapter in a much longer history stretching back to the late colonial period. In this first comprehensive study of the subject in more than half a century, Springer presents an in-depth look at American POW policy and practice from the Revolutionary War to the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan." "Springer contends that our nation's creation and application of POW policy has been repeatedly improvised and haphazard, due in part to our military's understandable focus on defeating its enemies on the field of battle, rather than on making arrangements for their detention. That focus. however. has set the conditions for the military's chronic failure to record and learn from both successful and unsuccessful POW practices in previous wars. He also observes that American POW policy since World War II has largely sought to outsource POW operations to allied forces in order to retain American personnel for frontline service - outsourcing that has led to recent scandals." "Focusing on each major war in turn, Springer examines the lessons learned and forgotten by American military and political leaders regarding our nation's experience in dealing with foreign POWs. He highlights the indignities of the Civil War, the efforts of the United States and its World War I allies to devise an effective POW policy, the unequal treatment of Japanese prisoners compared with that of German and Italian prisoners during World War II, and the impact of the Geneva Convention on the handling of Korean and Vietnamese captives. In bringing his coverage up to the so-called War on Terror, he also marks the nation's clear departure from previous practice - American treatment of paws, once deemed exemplary by the Red Cross after Operation Desert Storm, has become controversial throughout the world." "America's Captives provides an framework for this important subject and makes a strong case that we should stop ignoring the lessons of the past and make the disposition of prisoners one of the standard components of our military education and training."--BOOK JACKET.
Subject(s)
ISBN
9780700617173 (cloth : alk. paper)
0700617175 (cloth : alk. paper)
Bibliography Note
Includes bibliographical references (pages [251]-268) and index.
Source of Acquisition
DuBois copy: Purchased with funds from the Paterno Libraries Endowment; 2009.
Endowment Note
Paterno Libraries Endowment (Campus College Libraries)
View MARC record | catkey: 6055708