Hearts and Minds: A People's History of Counterinsurgency
Hannah Gurman
(Editor)
21,000+ Reviews
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Description
The first book of its kind, Hearts and Minds is a scathing response to the grand narrative of U.S. counterinsurgency, in which warfare is defined not by military might alone but by winning the "hearts and minds" of civilians. Dormant as a tactic since the days of the Vietnam War, in 2006 the U.S. Army drafted a new field manual heralding the resurrection of counterinsurgency as a primary military engagement strategy; counterinsurgency campaigns followed in Iraq and Afghanistan, despite the fact that counterinsurgency had utterly failed to account for the actual lived experiences of the people whose hearts and minds America had sought to win. Drawing on leading thinkers in the field and using key examples from Malaya, the Philippines, Vietnam, El Salvador, Iraq, and Afghanistan, Hearts and Minds brings a long-overdue focus on the many civilians caught up in these conflicts. Both urgent and timely, this important book challenges the idea of a neat divide between insurgents and the populations from which they emerge--and should be required reading for anyone engaged in the most important contemporary debates over U.S. military policy.Product Details
Price
$18.95
$17.62
Publisher
New Press
Publish Date
October 01, 2013
Pages
304
Dimensions
5.4 X 8.2 X 0.7 inches | 0.75 pounds
Language
English
Type
Paperback
EAN/UPC
9781595588258
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About the Author
Hannah Gurman is an assistant professor at New York University's Gallatin School of Individualized Study. She writes on the politics, economics, and culture of U.S. diplomacy and military conflict for Salon, the Huffington Post, and Foreign Policy in Focus, among other publications. She is the author of The Dissent Papers: The Voices of Diplomats in the Cold War and Beyond. She lives in New York City.
Reviews
"Counterinsurgency is a tactical phoenix, dying only to rise again, ever-ready to win hearts and minds for the American empire. This essential volume makes it possible to understand the past and prepare for the next time the siren song of counterinsurgency is sung."
--Marilyn Young "Hannah Gurman has assembled a groundbreaking volume filled with fresh perspectives and revealing insights. If you want to understand America's recent debacles in Iraq and Afghanistan, Hearts and Minds is essential reading."
--Nick Turse, author of Kill Anything That Moves: The Real American War in Vietnam "Essential reading for anyone who wants to see beyond the illusions about counterinsurgency warfare that the U.S. and British governments and media have sold their people. These histories show that, despite decades of occupations and well-funded and well-lauded strategic thinking, the hearts and minds of the occupied have remained beyond their militaries' ken and control."
--Catherine Lutz, author of The Bases of Empire and a contributor to The Counter-Counterinsurgency Manual "With America creeping toward military intervention in the Syrian civil war, Hannah Gurman's volume comes at an opportune time. While generals offer up moralistic bromides about protecting foreign populations at the barrel of an American gun, Hearts and Minds lays bare the brutal and destructive truth behind American military activism in the world."
--Colonel Gian Gentile
--Marilyn Young "Hannah Gurman has assembled a groundbreaking volume filled with fresh perspectives and revealing insights. If you want to understand America's recent debacles in Iraq and Afghanistan, Hearts and Minds is essential reading."
--Nick Turse, author of Kill Anything That Moves: The Real American War in Vietnam "Essential reading for anyone who wants to see beyond the illusions about counterinsurgency warfare that the U.S. and British governments and media have sold their people. These histories show that, despite decades of occupations and well-funded and well-lauded strategic thinking, the hearts and minds of the occupied have remained beyond their militaries' ken and control."
--Catherine Lutz, author of The Bases of Empire and a contributor to The Counter-Counterinsurgency Manual "With America creeping toward military intervention in the Syrian civil war, Hannah Gurman's volume comes at an opportune time. While generals offer up moralistic bromides about protecting foreign populations at the barrel of an American gun, Hearts and Minds lays bare the brutal and destructive truth behind American military activism in the world."
--Colonel Gian Gentile
