The wages of war : when America's soldiers came home : from Valley Forge to Vietnam / Richard Severo, Lewis Milford.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Severo, Richard, author.

Milford, Lewis, author.

Series:

Forbidden bookshelf series.

Forbidden Bookshelf

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Veterans--United States--History.

Veterans.

Veteran reintegration--United States--History.

Veteran reintegration.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (436 p.)

Place of Publication:

New York : Open Road Integrated Media, Inc., 2016.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

A disturbing chronicle of the US government's mistreatment of American soldiers and veterans throughout history, with a new introduction by Charles Sheehan-Miles Time and time again, the sacrifices made by veterans and their families have been repaid with scorn, discrimination, lack of health services, scant financial compensation, and other indignities. This injustice dates back as far as the American Revolution, when troops came home penniless and without prospects for work, yet had to wait decades before the government paid them the wages they were owed. When soldiers returned from the Cuban campaign after the Spanish-American War, they were riddled with malaria, typhoid, yellow fever, and dysentery-but the government refused to acknowledge their illnesses, and finally dumped them in a makeshift tent city on Long Island, where they were left to starve and die. Perhaps the most infamous case of disgraceful behavior toward veterans happened after the Vietnam War, when soldiers were forced to battle bureaucrats and lawyers, and suffer media slander, because they asked the government and chemical industry to help them cope with the toxic aftereffects of Agent Orange. In The Wages of War, authors Richard Severo and Lewis Milford not only uncover new information about the controversial use of this defoliant in Vietnam and the subsequent class action suit brought against its manufacturers, but also present fresh information on every war in US history. The result is exhaustive proof that-save for the treatment of soldiers in the aftermath of World War II-the government's behavior towards American servicemen has been more like that of "a slippery insurance company than a policy rooted in the idea of justice and fair reward."

Contents:

Cover Page; Title Page; Dedication; Contents; Series Introduction; Introduction; Prologue; Part One: After the Revolution; 1 Lambs and Bees or Tigers and Wolves; 2 Half Pay, Full Taxes, and Engines of Vice; 3 Officer Princes and the Art of Living Happily Ever After; 4 Daniel Shays: From True Patriot to Counterfeit Public Enemy; 5 A Little Rebellion Now and Then; Part Two: The War of 1812 and the Mexican War; 6 Like Sweet Poison on the Taste; 7 Just Debts and Common Sense; 8 St. Patrick Goes to Mexico; Part Three: The Civil War

9 Nathaniel Hawthorne, Walt Whitman, and the Concussion of Young Men10 The Day That Michigan, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and Ohio Voted in Indiana; 11 Bounties and Blacks; 12 Palace of Pensions; Part Four: The War with Spain and the Philippine Insurrection; 13 Embalmed Beef, Bad Water, Typhoid, and Five-Dollar Coffins at Montauk Point; 14 Of Mutilations, Massacres, and McKinley; Part Five: After the First World War; 15 When Italians Lacked the "Conveniences for Thinking" and Black Mothers Traveled Second Class

16 67,000 Quarts of Whiskey, Enough Floor Wax to Cover South Dakota, and "to hell with the Central Office"17 Mellon, du Pont, and the Chamber of Commerce: Fighting Is Its Own Reward; 18 The Great Depression and the Ghost of Daniel Shays; Part Six: After the Second World War; 19 Sweet Wine at Last; 20 Forgotten Women, Failed Men; Part Seven: The Korean War; 21 The Scapegoats; 22 The Scapegoaters; Part Eight: The Vietnam War and the Agent Orange Affair; 23 The Red Carpet Leads to Rejection; 24 When Not to Know Means Not to Pay; 25 The VA and Dow versus the Christians

26 Avoid Politicians and Lawyers and Get a Good PR Man27 The White House Suppresses a Report; Epilogue; Notes; Index; Acknowledgments; About the Authors; Copyright Page

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (ebrary, viewed February 11, 2016).

ISBN:

9781504031516

1504031512

OCLC:

936202346