Homefront: A Military City and the American Twentieth Century First Edition

by Catherine A. Lutz (Author)

7 ratings

ISBN-13: 978-0807055090

ISBN-10: 0807055093

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A look at Fayetteville, North Carolina, home to Fort Bragg, that poses the question,'Are we all military dependents?'

Fayetteville has earned the nicknames of Fatalville and Fayettenam. Unusual and not-sounusual features of the town include gross income inequalities, an extraordinarily high incidence of venereal disease, miles and miles of strip malls, and a history of racial violence. Through interviews with residents and historical research, Catherine Lutz immerses herself in the life of the town to discover how it has supported the military for over a century. From secret training operations that use civilians as mock enemies and allies to the satellite economy of the town, Lutz's history of Fayetteville reveals the burdens that military preparedness creates for all of us.

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Editorial Reviews

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Any reader will find [Lutz's] conclusions . . . provocative. —Publishers Weekly

"Rich in storytelling, history, and political commentary, with implications far beyond Fayetteville." —Michael Sherry, author of In the Shadow of War

"In no small part, Homefront chronicles Fayetteville through the trials and triumphs of the downtrodden, the underdogs and the disfranchised." —Greg Barnes, Fayetteville Observer

'First rate.' —Louis B. Cei, Richmond Times Dispatch

"Penetrating." —Ann Jarmusch, San Diego Union-Tribune

About the Author

Catherine A. Lutz is professor of anthropology at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. She is the author of Unnatural Emotions and coauthor, with Jane L. Collins, of Reading National Geographic. Lutz is winner of the Anthony Leeds Prize (2002) and of the Victor Turner Prize in Ethnographic Writing, Honorable Mention (2002).

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Beacon Press; First Edition (November 18, 2002)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 326 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0807055093
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0807055090
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 15.9 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.6 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,315,521 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,756 in Military History (Books)
- #1,960 in Sociology of Class
- #4,845 in United States History (Books)

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Rebecca Blackwell

Reviewed in the United States on January 9, 2020

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all well

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randy yale

Fayetteville writ large

Reviewed in the United States on September 13, 2002

While President Eisenhower warned about the Military Industrial Complex in the United States, one could argue that what is more troubling is the military cultural complexion of the United States. Catherine Lutz makes this argument forcibly in Homefront: A Military City and the American 2oth Century.
Lutz uses Fayetteville, North Carolina as a microcosm to examine the quotidian and epochal influences arising from America's military in times or war and peace. Homefront is the result of intensive data collection and wide ranging interviews. Lutz masterfully combines the two to tell a story of the city and its people that are always interconnected with the ever-widening influence of the U.S. military in the past century.6.
Using the prisms of race, class, and gender, Lutz deconstructs the image of the military as the defender of the American Way. She inverts the paradigm to show that often the presence of the military reinforces existing divisions. Fayetteville is an army town. Throughout the last century it was also a town that experienced Jim Crow, increased domestic violence, hate crimes, and a widening gap between the haves and the underclass. Lutz also documents that the spit-shine image of the Army often camouflages environmental degradation resulting from base operations. Homefront tells the story of the costs-both quantifiable and hidden-to the United States of becoming and remaining the planet's only superpower.
Lutz sets each of her six chapters within an identifiable era for Fayetteville and the U.S. military. The book begins with the opening of Fort Bragg in 1918. This period is, as David Blight argues in Race and Reunion, formed by the previous half century of American mythmaking that raises both the soldier and the South to places of honor in the national psyche. Homefront details how the perception of heroism often conflicts with the local experience of oppression. As Lutz herself writes, when recounting the history of former slave John Nichols-who refused to leave the land that was to become Fort Bragg, "[T]his story is structured around the time's stereotypes." Indeed, throughout the book the presence of the Army is often described by Fayetteville's residents in archetypal terms.
Lutz calls Fayetteville a company town. Because the army is the base for economic activity, the long-time residents of Fayetteville both love and fear it. Lutz describes how already well-off whites have reaped great wealth from the development that Fort Bragg created. She also describes how the city's inability to broaden its industrial base has left poor whites and most blacks working retail jobs with some of the lowest pay scales in North Carolina. In addition, the presence of thousands of young men has created another economy-where sex is the commodity. Sex workers represent the underside of the military culture that envelops a military town. Homefront is direct in examining that underside.
Lutz's voice is clear throughout the book (even when examining the negative effects of World War II-"the good war"). And her critique resonates strongly in the current climate. As Lutz states several places in her book, a military definition of the situation is essential to the military project. The military and its supporters thrive on an us versus them paradigm. Most of the public embraces this paradigm.
Two letters to the editor in the August 28, 2002 Wall Street Journal excoriated the subject of a story who resisted operations at a nearby military base because he thought the base was a detriment to his neighborhood. One letter-writer accused the subject of being more concerned with his lifestyle than his fellow countrymen's security. A letter published in the September 1, 2002 Raleigh News and Observer went even further. In response to someone who questioned the presence of the Junior ROTC on a local high school campus, the letter writer commented: "What's wrong with our children having the same values as, say, George Washington . . . Ulysses S. Grant . . . or Dwight D. Eisenhower." Lutz warns that such conflating of all things military with heroism and leadership is exactly the problem with the cultural complexion that looks back at most Americans in our national mirror. And though Lutz book was finished before 9-11, her research helps explain much of the reaction and rhetoric that has met anyone who questions our current policy in the war on terror or toward removing Saddam Hussein.
My own critiques of Lutz's book are mainly on two fronts. First, her work seems to intentionally avoid the role of religion in Fayetteville and in the broader national discussion. Early on she quotes a minister who states in 1923: "It is a pleasure to record that the relationship between the church and the government as represented in the authorities at Fort Bragg has been most cordial." But aside from the arrival of a Quaker House during the Vietnam years, Lutz does not detail the ebb and flow of the relationship. It seems a dramatic lacuna. The relationship of religion to the military, especially in the South, was pivotal during much of the 20th Century. In fact, I remember that Fayetteville was a regular venue for evangelical gatherings-often Billy Graham-in the 60s and 70s.
Second, the scope of Lutz's work occasionally confuses issues. Because she is focusing on both individual anecdotal evidence and metalanguage, the arguments do not always match. For instance, her work in Fayetteville convinces her that "civilian is the majority, dominant category," but there is "widespread acceptance of a military definition of the situation." For those of us accustomed to identifying the dominant category by determining who has the power to define the situation, these two explanations seem mutually exclusive.
However, my complaints pale in comparison to my admiration. Catherine Lutz has given me-and I believe this will be true for all readers-a new prism through which to view our national military culture. In Fayetteville and throughout the United States, we have met the enemy and they are us.

3 people found this helpful

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henry m silveira

a fresh look at the military and local communities

Reviewed in the United States on November 30, 2001

This is an excellent description of the complex relationship between a community and a military base that abuts it.Most readers will be surprised to learn some of the negative consequences.Our preconceived notion that a military base is a boon to a local community is seriously challenged.
Along with the analysis of the town-base relationship, there is a
good critique of our defense expenditures.
The writing is crisp and the statements are well documented.The book will appeal to readers who are interested in a serious study of the effect of a military base on the surrounding area.

4 people found this helpful

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Elizabeth Pettinati

Removing the Wool from our Eyes

Reviewed in the United States on March 8, 2002

This is an eye-opening, honest, and thoughtful examination of the role the military plays in our society. It is obvious that Lutz has thoroughly and carefully studied Fayetteville, NC, and she has delivered a powerfully written document of the effects an army base has had on the community. What makes this a brilliant work is that it invites the reader to consider the many arenas of our culture which have been influenced, even created, by the military complex we have embraced as our defense. Homefront is an extremely important book.

2 people found this helpful

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Paul R.

A Good Time to Examine the Military

Reviewed in the United States on March 7, 2002

Given the renewed patriotism in the U.S., this book gives us much to think about. Catherine Lutz studies the impact of the military on the small community of Fayetteville. And she also describes the military's pervasive effect on the larger community of the U.S. Her thorough research, illuminating explanations and salient examples make for compelling reading and deeper understanding of our reaction to 9-11. Homefront inspires us to think of alternatives other than war.

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J Margolis

A hugely important book

Reviewed in the United States on March 7, 2002

Homefront is a well researched, articulate, fascinating account on the impact of the military in Fayetteville, NC. As we as a nation have increased our military budget to over 360 Billion (!)dollars, we need to think about the real costs of this enterprise. THis book is the culmination of 7 years of extensive research, and is especially timely given our current world affairs. Homefront truly is a must read.

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