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Megan H. MacKenzie
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Beyond the Band of Brothers: The US Military and the Myth that Women Can't Fight

by Megan MacKenzie (Author)
4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 12 ratings
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Women can't fight. This assumption lies at the heart of the combat exclusion, a policy that was fiercely defended as essential to national security, despite evidence that women have been contributing to hostile operations now and throughout history. This book examines the role of women in the US military and the key arguments used to justify the combat exclusion, in the light of the decision to reverse the policy in 2013. Megan MacKenzie considers the historic role of the combat exclusion in shaping American military identity and debunks claims that the recent policy change signals a new era for women in the military. MacKenzie shows how women's exclusion from combat reaffirms male supremacy in the military and sustains a key military myth, the myth of the band of brothers. This book will be welcomed by scholars and students of military studies, gender studies, social and military history, and foreign policy.
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  1. ISBN-10
    1107628105
  2. ISBN-13
    978-1107628106
  3. Publisher
    Cambridge University Press
  4. Publication date
    June 17, 2015
  5. Language
    English
  6. Dimensions
    6 x 0.53 x 9 inches
  7. Print length
    234 pages
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Megan MacKenzie has offered us all a careful, persuasive dissection of a potent patriarchal myth. After reading this accessible book, 'combat', 'bonding', 'upper body strength' and 'national security' will never look the same. Beyond the Band of Brothers is for anyone interested in grappling with myth, militarism or sexism."
Cynthia Enloe, author of Bananas, Beaches and Bases

"Women’s combat exclusion is gone: yet myths glorifying wars and men who fight them are as strong as ever. Mackenzie challenges us to engage in more profound conversations about the tragedies of war."
J. Ann Tickner, American University, Washington DC

Book Description

This book examines the role of women in the US military and the key arguments used to justify the combat exclusion policy.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Cambridge University Press (June 17, 2015)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 234 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1107628105
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1107628106
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 11.3 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.53 x 9 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 12 ratings

About the author

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Megan H. MacKenzie

Megan H. MacKenzie

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Megan Mackenzie is a Professor and Simons Chair in International Law and Human Security at Simon Fraser University. She is a feminist scholar that has spent over a decade studying military culture. Her research includes projects on military sexual violence, military suicide, and gender integration.

Customer reviews

4 out of 5 stars
12 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Brandon
5.0 out of 5 stars A fascinating examination of a commonly accepted "truth"!
Reviewed in the United States on September 10, 2015
Verified Purchase
MacKenzie lays out the parallel and mutually supporting social phenomena that established and then sustained an emotion based policy. Perhaps the best chapter in the book is Chapter 3 where she examines how beliefs and emotions shape policy, often to the detriment of good decision making. In this chapter MacKenzie groups the arguments against women into those that are “gut reactions, divine concerns, and threats to nature.” Then she details how the gut, God and nature are “harnessed” to seemingly objective data. By following MacKenzie’s bread crumb trail one sees how emotion, shaped by cultural norms and beliefs, defied rational logic and sustained a policy of self-deception.

This is a fascinating examination of how assumptions about the "natural order" of the human experience are artificially constructed and then perpetuated. It takes great thinkers like MacKenzie to help us deconstruct and analyze the foundations of our lived experiences.
6 people found this helpful
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Kirstin Hasler
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent account of an important American myth
Reviewed in the United States on September 4, 2015
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An excellent, well researched account of the band of brothers myth that dominates American conversations about the military. I might quibble with some of the details, such as how the myth emerged (I'd point to WWI rather than Vietnam), but overall Mackenzie offers a compelling argument supported by solid evidence. While the book is aimed most directly at the combat exclusion, it also has important implications for thinking about why soldiers fight and the roots of combat effectiveness. I highly recommend it.
5 people found this helpful
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Angelia K. Holbrook
5.0 out of 5 stars A factual accounting of the prevailing myth
Reviewed in the United States on July 22, 2015
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McKenzie meets her intent to "deconstruct the band of brothers myth in order to change the conversation about war, and to make it more difficult to romanticize and legitimize war" as we idealize it today.

She doesn't takes sides just shines light in the dark flimsy arguments that inform policy and practice related to women's roles in the military.

Check your opinions at the door - she Joe Friday's the heck out of the issues related to women in combat.
5 people found this helpful
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Seneca
1.0 out of 5 stars Don't bother.
Reviewed in the United States on July 4, 2015
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The author is an Australian female who clearly has never been within a thousand miles of a battlefield. In this book she tries to show that "the band of brothers" can and should include sisters too. A clear case of penis envy; if men fight, so must women. Or otherwise, apparently, they do not consider themselves human.

Don't bother.
11 people found this helpful
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John Smith
5.0 out of 5 stars Wars change, myths remain.
Reviewed in the United States on October 7, 2015
Though war is changing, myths remain. MacKenzie's accurate synopsis of the state of affairs regarding women's exclusion from front line roles in the U.S. military is a welcome addition to the literature. Highlighting the difference between myth and reality throughout, she provides reasoned at times hilarious/scary objections to the inclusion of women on the front line - sharks theoretically being attracted to women on their menstrual cycle in SEAL teams being just one..Facepalm.
Deriving much intellectual inspiration from Cynthia Enloe who states that idea of 'manliness and "respectable women" are seminal in militarization and war', MacKenzie furthers this by highlighting that the 'Band of Brothers' myth is central to the perpetuation of a romanticized version of war and that unraveling this myth is central in demystifying and ending wars. Following on from her impressive work on female soldiers in post-conflict Sierra Leone, this book furthers MacKenzie's status as one of the leading thinkers on female soldiers in conflicts the world over.
One person found this helpful
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ChrisS
5.0 out of 5 stars This is a great read for anyone interested in why the US military ...
Reviewed in the United States on July 6, 2015
This is a great read for anyone interested in why the US military has fought so long to keep women out of combat for so long. It looks at key misperceptions about women and war and counters them with lots of research. It is accessible and tells us a lot about sexism generally and how difficult it is for women in 'non-traditional' workforces.
5 people found this helpful
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Mark bauby
1.0 out of 5 stars disappointing
Reviewed in the United States on March 2, 2018
this....was not a good book. I was assigned this book for my capstone class and we had to do discussions and critique. needless to say thus book served as an example of what NOT to do when pursuing research. I wanted to like this book, I really did, I'm a infantry vet and her hypothesis is extremely interesting and in the beginning I was interested in her ideas...but as I went further into the book the sources used/quality really started to bring down her argument, cherry picked would be an understatement. Chapter 3 was a huge culprit of this, the whole chapter felt less like an analysis of the "emotional arguments" against women in combat, and more of a rebuttal to a book written in the 1980's and some military theorist from Australia...oh and a anti-feminist actor...all hardly primary/quality sources to make a good argument.

Its just a shame, because I believe that an analysis of us military culture needs to be done, but not like this.
it says a lot that my entire class hated the book, including a self proclaimed "militant feminist" who thought the book made her "side" look bad. Do not buy this book, borrow it or check it out from the library. Oh and just to highlight how not good this book is, somebody in my class double checked one of her sources in chapter 5/6 (cant remember which), but she messes up a quote by getting the person who says it wrong. All in all, the entire book comes off as a 200 pg blog rant and not a serious academic work.
2 people found this helpful
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Aage
1.0 out of 5 stars She failed to mention that none of the nations she ...
Reviewed in the United States on September 8, 2015
She failed to mention that none of the nations she refers to that have women in their ground units have used them in actual combat or sustained offensive infantry operations. Canada's 8 years in Afghanistan being 1 example. Pure political spin.
7 people found this helpful
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