Remaking the Conquering Heroes - by J Willoughby (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

Remaking the Conquering Heroes shows that American policymakers and Army officers had to confront and take control over a lawless US military in the aftermath of World War II. Money laundering, theft, racial antagonism between black and white GIs, unregulated sex, and high rates of venereal disease threatened to undermine American authority in occupied Germany as much as Soviet-American conflict. Willoughby argues that it was the creative, if disorganized, reaction of American officials in Germany that helped create both a foreign policy framework and more inclusive, familial military establishment capable of consolidating and extending US power during the Cold War.

Review Quotes

'...a uniquely interdisciplinary social history of the U.S. occupation army...' -

Journal of Military History

About the Author

JOHN WILLOUGHBY is Associate Professor of Economics at American University in Washington, D.C. Between 1998 and 2000, he served as the Senior Economics Professor at the new American University of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates.