Manipulating Masculinity

In this study, Kathy Janette Phillips uses literature from World War I, World War II, the Vietnam War and the Iraq wars to argue that labelling broadly human traits 'feminine' helps societies manipulate men to war. Phillips also shows that damning pleasure fuels wars by encouraging the displacement of sexuality into violence.                                      

'Impressive in its breadth, its easy style, and its close readings, this compact book is an asset to those of us who teach the literature of war. Phillips's command of her literature is impressive, her exposition readable and brisk.' - Signs

'The carnage of 20th century warfare left more than 100 million dead. But how was such patriotic gore orchestrated? How were men motivated to fight? With a panoramic sweep across the century and keen attention to detail in the literary works that emerged from these wars, Kathy Phillips takes the reader inside the mass mobilization of masculine anxiety, the cult of military masculinity in which ordinary guys desperately need to prove something extraordinary. Her careful and level-headed analysis parallels an increasingly urgent cri de coeur: 'we've been had.' - Michael Kimmel, Professor of Sociology, State University of New York, USA and author of Manhood in America, Editor of Men and Masculinities

'Despite the gains of women, gays, and minorities, it would appear from Kathy Phillips' bracing study of war-making and gender that there is still a lot of work to be done.' - Southern Humanities Review

'Phillips draws on Michael Foucault in her deft analysis of artificial social constructs of gender, and she relies primarily on a wide variety of well-known imaginative literature - war novels, plays, poetry...her textual analysis remains careful and subtle throughout. This book offers thoughtful cultural context for considering contemporary warfare and gender construction.' - Choice