Patricia Ewick is professor of sociology at Clark University and coauthor of The Common Place of Law, also published by the University of Chicago Press.
A disquieting book, which runs against the tide of modern military-history writing. Bourke seeks to prove that a great many fighting men enjoy battle, even if they dread it beforehand; in particular, that they enjoy the actual process of killing, and can then (most of them) go back to peaceable civilian life. She takes all her examples from English-speaking peoples, in this century's two world wars and in Korea and Vietnam. It would be interesting to see her lines of argument applied to other armed forces, such as the SS or the Zulus, and to earlier centuries. She writes from a convinced feminist standpoint, and will make all her readers think. (Kirkus UK)