Random Destiny How The Vietnam War Draft Lottery Shaped A Generation

Author : Wesley Abney
Publisher : Vernon Press
ISBN 13 : 1622736192
Total Pages : 262 pages
Book Rating : 4.95/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Random Destiny: How the Vietnam War Draft Lottery Shaped a Generation written by Wesley Abney and published by Vernon Press. This book was released on 2019-03-30 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides a concise but thorough summary of how the selective service system worked from 1965 through 1973, and also demonstrates how this selective process, during a highly unpopular war, steered major life choices of millions of young men seeking deferrals based on education, occupation, marital and family status, sexual orientation, and more. This book explains each category of deferral and its resulting “ripple effect” across society. Putting a human face on these sociological trends, the book also includes a number of brief personal anecdotes from men in each category, told from a remove of 40 years or more, when the lifelong effects of youthful decisions prompted by the draft have become evident. There are few books which address the military draft of the Vietnam years, most notably CHANCE AND CIRCUMSTANCE: The Draft, the War and the Vietnam Generation, by Baskir and Strauss (1978). This early study of draft-age men discusses how they were socially channeled by the selective service system. RANDOM DESTINY follows up on this premise and draws from numerous later studies of men in the lottery pool, to create the definitive portrait of the draft and its long-term personal and social effects. RANDOM DESTINY presents an in-depth explanation of the selective service system in its final years. It also provides a comprehensive yet personal portrait of how the draft and the lottery steered a generation of young lives into many different paths, from combat to conscientious objection, from teaching to prison, from the pulpit to the Canadian border, from public health to gay liberation. It is the only recent book which demonstrates how American military conscription, in the time of an unpopular war, profoundly influenced a generation and a society over the decades that followed.

Author : Robert S. C. Gordon
Publisher : UCL Press
ISBN 13 : 1800083599
Total Pages : 188 pages
Book Rating : 4.92/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Modern Luck written by Robert S. C. Gordon and published by UCL Press. This book was released on 2023-01-16 with total page 188 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Beliefs, superstitions and tales about luck are present across all human cultures, according to anthropologists. We are perennially fascinated by luck and by its association with happiness and danger, uncertainty and aspiration. Yet it remains an elusive, ungraspable idea, one that slips and slides over time: all cultures reimagine what luck is and how to tame it at different stages in their history, and the modernity of the ‘long twentieth century’ is no exception to the rule. Apparently overshadowed by more conceptually tight, scientific and characteristically modern notions such as chance, contingency, probability or randomness, luck nevertheless persists in all its messiness and vitality, used in our everyday language and the subject of studies by everyone from philosophers to psychologists, economists to self-help gurus. Modern Luck sets out to explore the enigma of luck’s presence in modernity, examining the hybrid forms it has taken on in the modern imagination, and in particular in the field of modern stories. Indeed, it argues that modern luck is constituted through narrative, through modern luck stories. Analysing a rich and unusually eclectic range of narrative taken from literature, film, music, television and theatre – from Dostoevsky to Philip K. Dick, from Pinocchio to Cimino, from Curtiz to Kieślowski – it lays out first the usages and meanings of the language of luck, and then the key figures, patterns and motifs that govern the stories told about it, from the late nineteenth century to the present day.

Author : Elise Lemire
Publisher : University of Pennsylvania Press
ISBN 13 : 0812252977
Total Pages : 232 pages
Book Rating : 4.72/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Battle Green Vietnam written by Elise Lemire and published by University of Pennsylvania Press. This book was released on 2021-04-16 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Based on more than one hundred interviews with participants and accompanied by nearly forty photographs and maps, Battle Green Vietnam tells the story of the 1971 antiwar protest by Vietnam veterans that resulted in the largest mass arrest in Massachusetts history.

Author : John Martino
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1351700278
Total Pages : 165 pages
Book Rating : 4.76/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Drumbeat written by John Martino and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-05-03 with total page 165 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As the twenty-first century unfolds society is confronted with the normalization of warfare and political violence and their growing allure for the young. Current global political events highlight the extent to which young people have become the target of both State and non-State actors in the prosecution of war and terror. The conduct of what we can refer to as "social war" has increasingly come to target the young through media (social media, the internet and video games) and more directly through acts of violence (the massacre of children, the reliance on child soldiers, and the use of children in martyrdom operations) as legitimate forms of conduct. The appropriation of the young as political and military materials through the processes of both radicalization and militarization warrants close examination. Drumbeat examines these issues within the context of the ongoing process of militarization and the establishment of a state of perpetual warfare. The book distinguishes between radicalization, which refers to the application of propaganda and ideological methods by non-State agents, and militarization, which refers to the application of propaganda and ideological methods by State agents in order to effectively prosecute war. The focus of this book will be an examination of the mechanisms through which forms of media and other digital and web-based artefacts – social media, video and video games - assist in the militarization and radicalization of the young. There is a growing body of evidence which points to the effectiveness of various forms of media in both the recruitment of young people and the promotion of ideological frames. For example, non-State actors (extremist religious groups and the Alt-Right) have been highly effective in appropriating new media to project their propaganda messages and their appeal to young people. The book also argues that militarization has become a powerful societal force, which is re-configuring the daily conduct of life in the West. Just as radicalization seeks to prepare the young for the conduct of war, militarization also functions to position the broader society for war. This is a new form of the "civilizing process" to which Norbert Elias referred. In this context new media provides the conduits through which this process is legitimized, celebrated and promulgated.

Author : John A. Henderson
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.20/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Demobilizing a Generation written by John A. Henderson and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A generation of men were assigned lottery numbers based on birth dates to determine draft status during the Vietnam War. This natural experiment offers an ideal setting to assess the behavioral and psychological effects of differential exposure to the risk of serving and dying in a politically controversial military conflict. However, a conventional analysis of these effects may be biased by out-of-sample attrition associated with lottery numbers and behavioral outcomes. We develop a novel methodological approach, maximum entropy imputation (MEI) to correct for potential attrition bias in estimating causal effects in experiments. MEI reweights observations to construct a synthetic sample from the group of 'non-attritioners' that near-perfectly resemble actual 'attritioners' in observable characteristics. We discuss the assumptions of MEI for identifying causal inferences, and present the results from a series of validation tests that assess the reasonableness of these assumptions in the context of the Vietnam draft lottery. We then employ MEI to estimate the effects of the lottery on important political outcomes in the Youth-Parent Political Socialization Study, and show that the draft lottery may have had the overall effect of disengaging the political participation of a generation of men, while simultaneously inducing more conservative political attitudes.

Author : Dale Warren
Publisher : Independently Published
ISBN 13 : 9781549936524
Total Pages : 275 pages
Book Rating : 4.22/5 ( download)

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Download or read book I Won a Life in the Lottery written by Dale Warren and published by Independently Published. This book was released on 2017-10-14 with total page 275 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This true coming of age story that shares the humor, drama, and romance of a forty-year love affair that begins with me being picked number one in the Vietnam War draft lottery. Some have compared this story favorably with Forest Gump or The Wonder Years.Winning the lottery shaped and molded my life. No, I didn't win the Power Ball or some other Million Dollar prize. On July 1, 1970, I won the Vietnam War Draft Lottery when my birthday, July 9th was chosen number one. I Won a Life in the Lottery - The Vietnam War Draft Lottery, chronicles the true-life adventure that resulted from being drafted during the Vietnam War. This dramatic yet humorous adventure began with marrying my sixteen-year-old sweet heart and moving her across country from her family and everything she knew to serve at the United States Army Intelligence School. This couple of naïve teenagers not only faced the realities of the war, but medical emergencies, encounters with cults, and being able to assist Interpol with drug smugglers. They together faced life threatening emergencies, heights of winning "Soldier of the Year, and surprises of sitting in the dugout during the World Series at Dodger stadium in Los Angeles. Most importantly this young couple learned they could handle anything if they stuck together, counted on each other, trusted in the Lord, and let their love grow into a forty-year love affair. Winning the draft lottery gave them a life worth living, a life of true adventure filled with laughter and tears. This humorous heartfelt story is inspired by the unexpected opportunities provided after my birthday was the number one pick in the Vietnam War draft lottery.

Author : Natalie M. Rosinsky
Publisher : Capstone
ISBN 13 : 0756538416
Total Pages : 26 pages
Book Rating : 4.15/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Draft Lottery written by Natalie M. Rosinsky and published by Capstone. This book was released on 2008-09 with total page 26 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The history of the draft in the United States.

Author : Lawrence M. Baskir
Publisher : Knopf Books for Young Readers
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 344 pages
Book Rating : 4.21/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Chance and Circumstance written by Lawrence M. Baskir and published by Knopf Books for Young Readers. This book was released on 1978 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Author : Anthony Walsh
Publisher : Vernon Press
ISBN 13 : 1622737350
Total Pages : 188 pages
Book Rating : 4.52/5 ( download)

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Download or read book A Nation Divided: The Conflicting Personalities, Visions, and Values of Liberals and Conservatives written by Anthony Walsh and published by Vernon Press. This book was released on 2019-10-02 with total page 188 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Activists have long claimed that “the personal is political”, but this book posits the converse: that the political is personal. The United States today is bitterly divided. It is less an aspirational melting pot of immigrants and more a salad bowl made up of distinct, often clashing flavors. The successive elections of two divisive presidents—one committed to the perennial leftist dream of “fundamental change” and the other to a conservative vision of “Making America Great Again”—have exacerbated what is arguably the greatest rift in politics since the election of Abraham Lincoln. Taking inspiration from Coleridge’s belief that all humans are temperamentally destined to follow the path of Plato the Idealist or Aristotle the Realist, this book examines the political divide in terms of these temperamental differences. Liberals’ and conservatives’ views of human nature have a large bearing on the political policies they espouse, but their temperaments and personalities have the most significant impact. This book analyses the personality traits of liberals and conservatives in terms of the “Big Five” model—openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. Conservatives are found in almost all studies to be more conscientious, agreeable, and extroverted, while liberals are found to be more open to new experience and neurotic. The political divisions I explore in this book are all essentially fueled by personality differences. There is a deepening divide between liberals and conservatives in the battle for America’s soul: one side seeks to steer the nation sharply to the left into socialist selfdom, whereas the other side desires a wealthy and free America under the watchful eye of God’s providence. A preponderance of academic texts belongs to the liberal tradition. Conservatives have long lacked a comparable intellectual tradition of their own, although an incipient one is now beginning to form. This book, while maintaining a measure of scholarly distance, is unashamedly written from a conservative point of view.

Author : Nicholas Morieson
Publisher : Vernon Press
ISBN 13 : 1648892175
Total Pages : 227 pages
Book Rating : 4.72/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Religion and the Populist Radical Right: Secular Christianism and Populism in Western Europe written by Nicholas Morieson and published by Vernon Press. This book was released on 2021-07-06 with total page 227 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Western Europe, populist radical right parties are calling for a return to Christian or Judeo-Christian values and identity. The growing electoral success of many of these parties may suggest that, after decades of secularisation, Western Europeans are returning to religion. Yet these parties do not tell their supporters to go to church, believe in God, or practise traditional Christian values. Instead, they claim that their respective national identities and cultures are the product of a Christian or Judeo-Christian tradition which either encompasses—or has produced—secular modernity. This book poses the question: if Western European politics is secular, why has religious identity become a core element of populist radical right discourse? To answer this question, Morieson examines the discursive use of religion by two of the most powerful and influential populist radical right parties: The French National Front and the Dutch Party for Freedom. Based on this examination, he argues that the populist radical right has capitalised on a cultural shift engendered by the increasing visibility of Islam in Europe. Western Europeans’ encounter with Islam has revealed the non-universal nature of Western European secularism to Europeans, and demonstrated the secularisation of Christianity into Western European ‘culture.’ This, in turn, has allowed secular French and Dutch citizens to identify themselves—as well as their nation and, ultimately, Western civilisation—as Christian or Judeo-Christian. Seizing on this cultural shift, the author contends that the National Front and Party for Freedom have built successful and similar brands of reactionary politics based on the notion that contemporary secularism is a product of Europe’s Christian heritage and values, and that therefore Muslim immigration is an existential threat to the core values of European politics, including the differentiation of politics and religion, and of church and state. ‘Religion and the Populist Radical Right: Secular Christianism and Populism in Western Europe’ will be of interest to scholars and researchers working on the intersections of Political Science, Sociology, and Religion. It will also appeal to the general audience interested in the relationship between populism in Western Europe and religious identity as it is written in an accessible style.