Airpower in Literature
Interrogating the Clean War, 1915–2015
Abstract
The first century of airpower has ended, yet few critics have addressed the literature that chronicles its human toll. Airpower in Literature: Interrogating the Clean War, 1915-2015 offers fresh insight into this airpower century by placing literature of five major wars in conversation with the clean war discourse. Kimberly Dougherty examines the paradoxical representation of aerial warfare that has allowed extensive airstrikes on cities and civilians while promising a “cleaner” method of waging war. First suggested by early military theorists, the notion of a clean air war—one that would save lives through its speed and precision— proved seductive in the twentieth century and continues to shape the rhetoric of airpower today. The air war is perceived as clean, the author argues, when we see neither the aviator nor the targeted populations in the bombing dynamic. Through analysis of fiction, poetry, drama, and journalism, from the ruins of World War I to the technologies of post-modern war, the author identifies counternarratives that make visible both aviators and bombed societies, and present aerial warfare that is not clean, but messy, prolonged, and imprecise. This exploration encourages readers, and writers, to approach the next century of airpower with greater wisdom and empathy.
Schlagworte
Airpower Theory American Literature Civilian Casualties Contemporary War Literature Precision Bombing- i–x Preface i–x
- 1–18 Introduction 1–18
- 163–186 6: Continued Exposure 163–186
- 187–190 Conclusion 187–190
- 191–210 Bibliography 191–210
- 211–222 Index 211–222
- 223–224 About the Author 223–224