Weak Link: the Feminization of the American Military
Mitchell
1989
Submitter: Our public library found yet another interesting book while weeding the non-fiction section. [It] seems much older given its content. According to its circulation history, it’s rarely left the shelves. Given the dated contents and horrid cover, our patrons show good judgement!
Holly: Oooh, this ought to rile some people up! Take a look at this review in the New York Times, written by Richard Halloran. There are lots of reviews on Amazon too, of course. In 1989 this book might have been a reasonable choice for a public library in the interest of a collection with balanced viewpoints, and also because it was a hot topic back then. There is definitely still a place for this in some research libraries, but I think most neighborhood public libraries with popular materials collections can let it go.
Mr. Mitchell has lost this battle. But he’s still writing! http://www.brianpatrickmitchell.com/about/
That cover is what I’d like to do, actually, stick flowers in a soldiers gun. Because I hate war. I hate the government because it won’t help poor people yet spends all its money on war. Peace man, make love not war, ya dig? 😛
Spoken like a true flower child! Consider it “dug”!
What’s funny to me is that the blurb on the cover started with a lie. The US dosn’t have more women than many other countries. And other countries had women in combat roles before America.
I love the naiveté here with the assumption that fraternization between soldiers is some new horror brought about by the introduction of women to the ranks. I think that maybe for all of his military experience and study, Mr. Mitchell perhaps didn’t understand a lot of the shenanigans going on amongst soldiers for the last, oh, several thousand years.
Mitchell updated his text, though not his views, in Flirting with Disaster. https://books.google.com/books?id=KLmrGAVy7vgC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false
The library I worked in at the time of this publishing date had a copy of this book…I recall it was not a big item. The university was in a Navy town that was full of women sailors and Marines and had an ROTC program I hope they have since withdrawn it.
I bet he doesn’t have a wife anymore, if he’s as rude about her as he is about other women. I can appreciate the need for a balance of views on controvertial issues, but the tone of this is just obnoxious, and doesn’t even attempt to be constructive.
Happily married for 32 years. The book received a lot of national publicity when it appeared, but it was hard to buy because the distributor went bankrupt the year the book was published. Nevertheless, it became a cult classic among ex-military men, which is why it was expanded and republished as http://www.amazon.com/Women-Military-Flirting-With-Disaster/dp/0895263769. It’s still often cited in other works on the subject.